The Black Hand
by Sypnotick
Summary: Sandaime and Naruto travel to Suna but a meeting changes everything for Naruto. Puppeteer! Naruto.
1. Chapter 1: The Departure

Chapter 1: The Departure

It was already evening in the proud village of Konoha, where an old man with white robes sat behind a desk slowly filling out papers. There was a knock on the door and after a quick "Come in" a man with Konoha's ninja flack jacket and headband came in through the door with a scroll in his hand. He quickly handed the scroll to the Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen and patiently waited for his response.

Sarutobi saw the seal of the Kazekage of Suna on the scroll, he quickly opened the scroll and read through the contents of it. After a few minutes of silence the jounin could see Sarutobi relaxing his shoulders a little as if his burden was lessened. "Alright, it seems like the Kazekage agreed to my proposition."

Sarutobi grabbed a pen and an empty scroll. After a few minutes of writing he handed the scroll to the jounin, "Deliver this to Suna. Also, inform my secretary that tomorrow I will be leaving to discuss the details of the alliance with Suna." The jounin took the scroll and left Sarutobi's office after a bow with a quick "understood".

Sarutobi released a small sigh, "Well, this is one thing I don't have to worry about anymore. Now… The problem is Naruto. I will be gone for a while but… The villagers may try to harm him during my absence. Naruto himself isn't making it any easier." Sarutobi opened one of his drawers took out an old pipe, lit it and after a few puffs he let out a wisp of smoke.

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, "It isn't as bad as it used to be but if I leave like this, all hell will break lose and when I come back either Naruto or the village may be gone." A few more puffs of the pipe. For a few minutes nothing but the burning of tobaco leaves and the ticking of the clock could be heard in the office, "I guess I have no other choice." Sarutobi turned around and called his secretary, "Bring me Uzumaki Naruto."

The next day

Near the gates of Konoha 5 people were standing: Sarutobi Hiruzen, 3 anbu escorts and what looked like a 5 year old silent kid with blond, messy hair that almost fell on his blue eyes. He wore a simple white t-shirt, black shorts and sandals. It was no one other but Naruto Uzumaki.

The Hokage seemed to finish talking with the gate guards and came back to the group. He took one quick glance at the group, "Alright, our journey will take a while so lets not waste any more time and get going." The hokage took a look at Naruto and started slowly walking, Naruto followed behind him with the anbu escort around the two. Because Naruto still had no ninja training they couldn't go at a fast pace.

The journey itself was peaceful, the anbu made sure of it. No one really talked, the anbu were busy staying alert and doing their job, Hiruzen seemed a little spaced out, probably thinking about the negotiations and Naruto was simply following Hiruzen and looking around silently. Though he never noticed Hiruzen's glances at him, then quickly turning away.

A few days later

The group, after a few days of walking through the sand, finally saw what looked like big walls made of sand and a small group of people standing in front of the gates. In front of the group stood a man with a white robe like Hiruzen's except his had blue lines on the edge of his robe, whereas Hiruzen's was red. Behind the man stood a few shinobi with serious faces.

"Welcome, Hokage, to Suna, I hope the journey wasn't too harsh." The Kazekage said as Sarutobi's group approached them. Hiruzen put on his formal smile and quickly answered, "Well, I am not as young as I once was but its good to have a walk once in a while." Kazekage offered a polite smile, "Yes, I agree." His eyes went down to Naruto who was standing behind Hiruzen, "You wrote in the scroll that you will be bringing along a guest, I didn't expect someone… So young."

Hiruzen walked to the side revealing Naruto, "Yes, well… Kazekage I would like to introduce you to Uzumaki Naruto. I thought it would be a good experience for him to go out of the village and see the world just a little. I hope you do not mind if he stayed in your village with me for a while." Naruto did a curt bow to the Kazekage, who seemed pleased by the gesture, "No, not at all. For someone so young he is well taught I see. Anyway, you must be tired after your journey so my men will show young Uzumaki here to your lodgings. The journey probably tired him out, meanwhile we can go to my office and begin the talks." The Kazekage said as he turned to one of his men, who nodded and stepped to the front.

Hiruzen nodded his head, "I agree, the sooner we begin the faster we will end."He turned to look at Naruto, "Naruto, you go with the man here. He will show you where we will be staying. Wait there, when I return we will have a talk." Then as Naruto was walking away without turning around Hiruzen silently said, "Tora, your job is to protect Naruto. Absolutely no harm must come to him, understood?" With a small nod an anbu with a tiger mask disappeared.

The kazekage spoke up again, "Well then, if you follow me."

Next Morning

Naruto slowly opened his eyes when the harsh rays of the sun started shinning on him. After a few minutes he walked to the living room of their lodgings fully dressed. Sarutobi was already standing near the door, probably was going to the Kazekage's office.

Sarutobi turned around when he heard someone walking behind him, when he saw it was Naruto he put on his kind smile, "Good morning, Naruto. I hope you slept well. I am sorry but I have to go to the Kazekage's office again. Breakfast is already prepared, you will find it on the table and I left you some money in case you wanted to go out. I will probably be gone for a few hours, so staying in this room may be a little boring. You can go out and look around, though be careful. Just in case I ordered one of the anbu to watch over you, if you get lost call out to him."

When Sarutobi saw Naruto's nod he turned around and left after saying another "Goodbye".

Naruto stood for a few moments looking at the door. He tore away his gaze from the door and looked around the spacious room, "Boring." was all that came out of his mouth, "I guess I should eat up and look around the village." After a quick snack Naruto grabbed the money left on the table and left the apartment.

Few hours later

"What a boring village, nothing going on at all." Were the only thoughts in Naruto's head after walking around for a while. Suna wasn't like Konoha, which was full of activities and energy. There, people would walk around with smiles and warmly greet each other. Here, people would keep to themselves and say a polite greeting to their friends. It didn't have the warm atmosphere Konoha had. Though for some reason Naruto felt more at peace here, "Probably because the people here don't hide their stupid thoughts behind their smiles." He reasoned.

After walking around for a while Naruto saw a big crowd of people watching something. The big crowd piqued his curiosity so he made his way through the big crowd. His small body making it easier to get past the people. With another small push Naruto finally got to the front and what he saw wasn't what he expected to see, if he expected anything at all. It was a simple puppets show to keep the people here entertained, "Probably the only kind of entertainment they have here." Naruto added in his head.

Though for some reason it still caught his attention, boring as it was. Maybe, because he was bored, maybe, the life like movements of the puppets or their amazing stunts, Naruto himself didn't know what caught his attention, but his eyes were glued to the performance. He never noticed what was going on around him.

One of the lead puppeteers looked around the crowd and saw a man with a black cloak and a hood covering his face standing on a rooftop. The man slowly brought out a gloved hand from his cloak and pointed out Naruto and a few other people in the crowd. The lead performer looked to where the hooded man was pointing and saw Naruto standing there, his eyes glued to the performance but it was obvious he was keeping his guard up, ready to react at a moments notice. The performer smirked before hiding his smile.

After ten more minutes the performance ended and Naruto was about to leave with the dispersing crowd but he stopped when someone behind him called out to him, "Hey, kid with the blond, messy and spiky hair." Naruto immediately put up his guard and slowly turned around. He saw the lead performer standing there. He wasn't anything spectacular: short brown hair, thin eyes that looked like they were closed and a big goofy smile. He wore dark gray pants, sandals and a small cloak that fell just below his elbows. Though the atmosphere around him was creepy and Naruto's instincts for some reason told him not to trust him.

The man let out a carefree laugh, "You don't have to be so careful. I saw you in the crowd here, you obviously stand out among the people here. My name is Kotarou, you are?" Kotarou stood for a while waiting for a response, whatever he was hoping for he didn't get it as Naruto was simply standing there and looking at him with a calm and bored gaze. Kotarou let out a small laugh, "Well, aren't you the social one."

Naruto looked around and saw that the other performers scattered and some were talking to other people of various ages but none were that much older than him, at most probably everyone was younger than 10, "Do you have any business with me? If not, I will be taking my leave here." Naruto said and started turning around, when Naruto turned around Kotarou slightly opened his eyes with a displeased face, " _This will be a hard nut to crack._ " He said in his head. Kotarou put on his friendly face again, "Wait a second, I just wanted a friendly conversation. For us performers its important to keep friendly relations with our spectators."

Naruto turned around. "Sorry but I won't be in this village for a long amount of time. Your performance was boring, so I probably won't come to the next." Kotarou seemed a little shocked, " _This brat."_ He said in his head. He let out a small laugh, "So harsh, well maybe to outsiders like you its boring but for us its our only source of income and the only type of entertainment you get around here. Its important to know what people think of our performances so we keep up with what people like." Kotarou stopped to think for a bit, "Well, it may be a little hard for you to understand now… Umm, what was your name?" Naruto stood there for a while, "I don't have an opinion on your performance."

Kotarou let out a massive sigh inside his head, "Though the puppets themselves were interesting. I wonder how they moved like that." It was said very quietly if the wind picked up even a little Kotarou wouldn't have heard it. But he did. Kotarou let a massive smile form in his head, " _Bingo._ "

"Well, maybe you don't have an opinion on the performance but what about the puppets?" He let out a fake sigh, though Naruto who had no ninja training and experience so he couldn't pick up on Kotarou's perfect act, "We try to keep the puppets so that people of all ages would like. The adults don't seem to mind them as they look at the performance itself. However, the kids like to look at the puppets themselves more, so what do you think about them?" He showed a friendly smile again.

Naruto stopped to think about it again, "I guess, they weren't so bad." Kotarou smiled, " _Hook, line and sinker_." He let out a small laugh, "Haha, is that so? We put a lot of work into maintaining them so its a relief. We also work a lot on the art of puppetry to keep our act flawless." The words piqued Naruto's interest, though he knew he shouldn't trust the man but his childish curiosity was getting the best of him, "So you mean those puppets didn't move on their own but you were controlling them?"

Kotarou looked like he saw an alien, "You mean… This is your first time seeing puppetry? I mean, automated puppets that move by themselves would be nice and all, but we aren't capable of creating such a thing. Of course we move them ourselves." Naruto stood there silently looking at him, "Say, kid. We always have an extra performance at the back stage you know. Its sort of like… An experiment run. We test out our new puppets and tricks while the select people we invite rate our performance."

Naruto's guard immediately went back up again, "Thanks, but I'm not interested." Kotarou hit himself in his head, " _Damn, I shouldn't have rushed this. Now its back to square one._ " He cleared his throat, "Don't worry its just stuff we do to get more audience. If the kids like the performance they will come back and bring more friends and maybe their parents." " _This kid is smart, I'll give him that. I will have to put my act on top gear if I want this kid. He won't be fooled easily_." He said in his head.

"Sorry, but I have to go now." Naruto turned around and started leaving, but he felt sharp pain at the back of his head. His eyes closed and he started slumping forward when he was caught by someone with a black cloak.

Kotarou was looking at the cloaked figure in front of him. The figure hid Naruto inside it's cloak and looked at Kotarou, "You messed up, you shouldn't have rushed it." Kotarou opened his eyes slightly, "I know, this kid is not like the rest. Hes sharp and has a good guard up. Its obvious he doesn't take to strangers kindly." The figure looked around and saw that no one noticed what he had done, "I know that's why I pointed him out. He even had a guard following him. It was hard to fool him. Whatever, whats done is done. I will bring the kid back to our base. You make sure to bring more kids in. If you fail this our sacred duty will be lost. You know that." Kotarou's face became serious, "We all do."

The cloaked figure took another look around and vanished into thin air. Kotarou looked around and saw another kid walking. His serious face disappeared and he put on his friendly face, "Hey there kiddo..."

An unknown amount of time later (at a galaxy far, far away. Sorry, couldn't help it)

Naruto let out a small groan and slowly started opening his eyes. He could faintly hear someone talking near him, but his head hurt too much for him to hear the words. After a few moments his eyes shot open and he immediately sat up, prepared to run, and looked around. He saw that he was in a cage in a room filled with covered boxes and dust, on the walls random puppets parts and weapons were hanging. The weird things was that he wasn't bound by anything. He looked up and saw two figures in front of the cage. One was a figure clad in black, the other was Kotarou. They were talking about something but they probably heard him because they were looking at him right now.

Kotarou looked at Naruto but his friendly atmosphere and face were gone and replaced with serious ones, "You are finally awake, kid." Naruto looked around, "What is this?" He asked with a calm voice but he had a hard time hiding his unease, "Don't worry, if you play along we won't do anything to you. I promise." The black figure looked at Naruto, then turned to Kotarou, "Its about time we begin. Bring the kid to the rest of them." Kotarou nodded his head and after those words the figure turned around and left.

Kotarou turned to Naruto, "Just follow along, we are currently underground, there are guards everywhere and we all have more than enough ninja training to catch you. Don't make this harder on anyone." He said calmly. Naruto looked towards the only exit of the room and saw two people standing on the opposite side of the door. Though he could only see their arms.

Kotarou opened the cage and slowly walked towards the door, Naruto having no other choice slowly trudged along, "Come on, help won't come. Its impossible to find this place without prior knowledge and you walking so slow won't change what is going to happen. You are just wasting all of our time. The sooner we begin the faster we will end." Those words didn't hold any hostility or malice, he said them calmly like stating a fact.

Naruto took one last look around and saw that nothing could help him here. So he turned to Kotarou and started following him. After he walked through the door he saw that the guards were nothing but puppets. He failed to not show his surprise, "You shouldn't think this will make it any easier. This place is a maze filled with puppets. All of us know each path, where it leads to, like the back of our hands and we can take control of any puppet in here at the move of our fingers." He said it calmly again like stating a fact and to show a demonstration he lifted one arm and moved his pinky. At the simple movement of one finger the whole puppet started moving like it came to life, "Each of us can control ten of these and there are a lot of us. Do you still think you can escape?"

Naruto silently swallowed the saliva in his mouth and looked to Kotarou again, "Lets go, its best not to keep the others waiting for too long." He started walking again. Naruto took a glance back at the puppets and while Kotarou was turned around he shifted his feet and slowly started turning around but before he could take a single step the puppet moved in front of him, "You should be careful, kid. The walls have eyes and ears here." Naruto turned around and started following Kotarou again.

After a few long minutes and a lot of twists and turns Naruto walked into a room where there were a lot of people. There were the performers Naruto saw at the beginning, the black figure. The rest were kids mostly around his age no one seemed older than 10. There didn't seem to be any distinction between the kids. Boys and girls of various ages were sitting on small chairs and in front of them there was a small open area. The only light in this room came from the candles place all throughout the room.

Kotarou looked behind him at Naruto and moved his head towards the chairs. When he saw that a lot of eyes were on Naruto he understood that he had no choice but to listen to him. He saw the only free chair left and sat on it. He took one quick glance around him and saw a girl his age with long black hair falling on her back and on the front it was swept to the side sitting on his left and a boy with brown hair that fell on his eyes on his right. All the kids were looking around nervously some younger ones were sniffling and sobbing while the older ones trying their best to keep themselves composed and to calm the crying ones, "Hey, what will happen to us?" Naruto turned to his left and saw the girl with the black hair looking at him expectantly, almost about to cry.

Naruto from the beginning tried to keep himself composed and tried to keep his look like he was bored but he didn't trust his own voice to not show his unease. He looked at Kotarou and saw him talking with the black figure. He turned to his left again when he felt a small tug on his sleeve and saw the girl looking at him, " _With no one to turn to I bet she wants someone to tell her it will be alright.._." Naruto thought in his head. Memories of Konoha flooded his head and after a moment he almost smiled, _"If only I had someone like that when I had to deal with the stuff back in my_ _home._ " After he remembered all he had been through his unease almost completely disappeared, "I don't know, though I do know that they won't harm us. Otherwise, they would have done that already." Were the only things Naruto said. To Naruto that sounded cheap but it was enough for the young and naive girl to put her at ease.

After a few minutes Kotarou walked to the front of the children and cleared his throat, "Alright, I guess I can begin with saying that you don't have to worry about anything too much right now. We have no intention of hurting you, unless you make it difficult for us. All of you know us as "The Performers." That's how we call ourselves in the streets but the truth is, that we have another name." He looked around through the kids until his eyes landed on Naruto, "We are better known as "The Protectors" We are a shinobi organization to say it simply. I know most of you have no idea what I am talking about, but you all you need to know is that during the great ninja wars the ones who truly protected your parents and grandparent's lives are us. Unfortunately, when the war ended the tyrant Kazekage saw no use in us so he destroyed our group. But he didn't succeed. Every adult you see here is all that remains of "The Protectors." You probably want to ask us if we are your protectors why are we doing this and what do we want. To put it simply, we want you, kids, to join our group." After those words there was great confusion among the kids as they didn't know how to react.

" _Not yet, this is far from the truth. They are hiding something. Adults are always hiding something when they want to make the kids do something_." Naruto thought inside his head. Kotarou's eyes landed on Naruto and for some reason he seemed pleased when he saw that Naruto had no intention of believing them and he didn't hide it. The black figure for some reason was also nodding his head. It was hard to see from beneath the hood but if one were to look at Kotarou's reaction the figure's was probably the same.

The kids were looking around and talking to each other with great confusion. Meanwhile, Kotarou went to the black figure, "So, what do you think? Any potential candidates in this group?" The black figure seemed to think about something for a while, "Kids are very easy to trick, but there is always a few who don't believe everything they hear and see. For kids who are naive and foolish, when they can detect a lie, that is called instinct. There are always kids who are hard to trick because their instinct tells them that something is wrong. Those who have that instinct have the potential to become great shinobi. The blond kid obviously understands we are hiding something from him, he has the potential. There are few other who have looks on their faces like they are thinking about something, their potential is unknown but they are possible candidates."

Koutarou looked around, "Its either instinct or experience. The blond kid looked like he didn't believe what we were going to say before I even began to speak. He probably didn't understand anything but he understood that the situation put him at risk, that's why has was looking for a way out the entire time." The black figure looked at Kotarou, "That is also potential, my friend. The ability to asses the situation to the limits of his small mind and to come to the conclusion that he is in danger shows that he has very good survival instincts and the mindset to become a strategist. A good one at that." Kotarou looked through the kids again and released a small sigh, "Only a few candidates, better than the last bunch. Working with kids is so tiring."

The figure spoke again, "We are the protectors of Suna. While the ignorant and stupid discuss irrelevant stuff near a round table, we are the ones who truly protect Suna from the shadows. We are the hand that strikes down anyone threatening us. Due to the foolish fourth kazekage disbanding us we have been reduced to nothing but a bunch of artists who have to put on stupid faces for the amusement of others. Its obvious we can't recruit adults, they are hard to teach new tricks to and if they threatened us we would have to kill them for our safety. That would be inefficient and would put us at risk, sooner or later. Our best bet is to train new recruits while they are still young. Pick out the fresh, unpolished gems and polish them into fine warriors. All that matters is that Suna stands, that's what we have been taught, that's what we will pass on.

Kotarou looked at Naruto, "But the blond kid is worrying. He said that he will only be here for a while and he even had an anbu guarding him. He is no small fry. Its obvious we can't keep him here forever. If someone were to make a ruckus upstairs we could be discovered and all would be for naught."

"No matter, we have time, for now. If we can teach him the ways of the black hand then he can become someone who operates for us in other villages. If he could even spread our teachings Suna would gain a very formidable force and an intelligence network throughout the five great nations." The black figure spoke again. Koutarou seemed to have his doubts, "Yeah, but there is the chance we won't make it. That would make it even more dangerous, someone with our teachings and techniques using it for their own sake. I talked with him a lot. I don't know his name, age or background but I understood one thing. If anything, that kid is a hard nut to crack."

The black figure seemed to think about Kotarou's words for a while, "That means we won't make him into a mindless drone." Kotarou seemed confused, "And the other will be?" The black figure looked at the children again, "Of course not, but we will make them believe in our ideology and follow it strictly. However, for the blond kid its enough if he understands our ideology and supports us. He is simply a kid, he doesn't hold any allegiance to anyone but his closest friends and family. If we can somehow bring him to our side..." Kotarou's eyes widened, "I see, its enough if he only understands our creed. He doesn't hold any responsibilities to his village, so its enough if he helps us out, while adhering to our beliefs." The black figure nodded, "Correct." Kotarou put on his thinking face, "But still… My point stands. The kid dealt with some nasty stuff it seems if he became so distrusting. He will be a hard nut to crack and we won't be able to keep him here 24/7 unless we want someone upstairs to cause a ruckus. Probably the anbu alone is swooping the city and looking around for the kid as we speak."

The figure nodded again, "Yes, that's why we have to choose our actions carefully. No setbacks will be tolerated if we want to make him into our own ally." Kotarou nodded beside him.

The figure was silent for a moment, "Lets finish this up, do the usual. For those who didn't pass, erase their memories." Kotarou nodded from the side, "So, its three kids this time." The black figure shook his head, "No, four, take the girl sitting beside the blond haired kid." Kotarou looked surprised, "Her?Why? Forget doubting my words, she didn't even react to them." The figure sighed, "That is the reason why. She seems like she will have an especially hard time here. It will motivate the other so they wouldn't fall behind like her." Kotarou seemed confused, "You want to use her as a sacrificial pawn?" The black figure sighed again, "We have done things a lot worse than that. Besides, we won't slack in teaching her. Its obvious she doesn't have talent and will have a hard time picking up our art. Now, wrap this up." This time Kotarou sighed, "Fine."

Naruto's POV

The speech ended and Naruto was glancing around to the other kids watching their reactions. His eyes fell on The black figure and Kotarou. The figure and Naruto locked their gazes for a moment until Naruto was brought back to reality from a small tug on his shirt. He looked to his left and saw the girl looking at him again, "When will I be able to leave? I want to see mommy." Naruto narrowed his eyes and after a few seconds turned away.

"What do you think?" This time he heard the voice from his right. Naruto turned to to face the boy who's hair fell on his eyes. Naruto just calmly looked at the boy, "What do you think about what he said?" The boy repeated his question. Naruto looked to the front, "I don't believe them." The boy looked at Naruto, "I felt like something wasn't right. Why do you think so?" Naruto looked at the Figure, "Adults are always hiding something when they want us kids to do something." The boy looked like he was thinking about Naruto's words for a while, "True."

Naruto looked to his left again and saw that the girl still hasn't let go of his sleeve and was looking at the ground. He couldn't help but release a small grunt, "This won't take long." He said quietly. The girl looked up at him and made a small smile, "Hey, whats your name? Mine is Ayami." Naruto wanted to slam his head onto something, "Annoying" were the words repeating in his head.

He turned back to the front when he saw that Kotarou and the figure finished talking. Kotarou cleared his throat to get their attention again, "Alright, we are finished here. We will lead you back to your homes now, though I ask that some of you stay here, because there are still a couple of important things we have to tell you." Kotarou finished as he pointed out a couple of kids with his finger.

After everyone had left only Naruto and 3 other kids were left. Ayumi, the boy who's hair fell on his eyes and another girl with brown hair, which fell just beneath her chin.

Kotarou walked to the front of these kids, "You don't hav-" "Just tell us what you want already." The boy with the brown hair said. Kotarou just smiled in response, the black figure walked out to the front, "Hello, young ones. My name is Arata" The figure greeted them as he took off his hood, showing an old person with numerous scars on his face and with long, messy, gray hair, "Don't worry this won't take long, You see, the point of that speech from Kotarou right now was to select you group of kids." The brown haired kid seemed to think about it, "Why us?"

"Our organization is very secret and before I brought you here I looked into you. All of you would have joined the Suna Academy next year and became ninja either way. What I offer you now, is to join our organization to truly protect Suna, not from mere bandits, who try to make some pocket change, but from true enemies who try to destroy Suna." Except for Naruto every kid listened to the old man, waiting for him to further explain.

"You see, our organization's true name isn't "The Protectors." Its "The Black Hand." We were created in order to protect Suna from the shadows, whereas the ninja fought in the open fields. Unfortunately, as Kotarou said, the fourth Kazekage decided to destroy our group when the war ended. But we, who held onto our strict beliefs, couldn't just disband like nothing happened and decided to group together anyway in order to protect you, citizens. That' why we can't go out into the open and recruit like we want to, but we have to do it secretly like this."

Ayami raised her hand, "But why don't you talk to the current Kazekage so he would let you be together again?" The old man looked at her, "Because he would try to change us from who we are currently. Our group protects from the shadows, where no one sees us. If the Kazekage were to find out we would be in trouble because we didn't disband when we were told to, child."

"Our group protects everyone, who lives in Suna from the shadows, where no one sees us. We are the true shinobi of Suna, not them, the men who show of their headbands to look cool. What do you say, kids. Would you help this old man protect the people of this village from the evil outside? You have the potential to become true warriors of Suna, otherwise you would have been asked to leave just like the rest of the kids there. The question is, are you prepared to protect your loved ones without expecting any gratitude for a reward. Do you have what it takes to become true shinobi?"

The kids were lured in by Arata's sweet talk and had eyes shining in their eyes. But not Naruto, he could already see through the sugarcoated words Arata spoke, "Sorry, but I'm not even from Suna. I have no business here so I will be taking my leave." Just as Naruto turned around Kotarou grabbed his shoulder, "Kid, could we talk in another room?" Naruto looked at the hand on his shoulder and then at Kotarou. Seeing no other choice he walked after the man.

In another room

Kotarou closed the door and went to sit down on the chair in front of Naruto, "Look, kid. I know you weren't taken in by any of that." "Of course not. I have heard enough of those kind of words to understand they were fake." was the immediate response Kotarou got. He just sighed, "You are definitely a tough one, no matter what I say I just can't get around your defenses. Look, kid. I will be truthful with you from now on." Kotarou took a deep breath.

"We are called The Black Hand. An organization created during the second great ninja war in order to protect Suna. Like a second anbu organization. It wasn't that strange, every great village had a second anbu organization." Naruto seemed confused "Why 2? Isn't one enough?" Kotarou smiled sadly, "Anbu is an organization that every village has. It's primary function is to protect the secrets of the village. Only the elite gather there. However, anbu had one flaw. It was top secret but an organization that held its head high. Every ninja's dream was to join the anbu and to truly protect their village. But that was its flaw, if the anbu did anything too bad it would reflect poorly on the village itself. That's why every village created a second anbu organization. An organization that absolutely no one knew of, one that did the dirtiest of jobs there are. Murdering, stealing, tricking other people and that is the beginning. Of course even the regular anbu did that but the second anbu took on the most gruesome and dirty jobs of them all. That's what we are, The Black Hand. The second anbu of Suna." Kotarou looked at Naruto and saw him with a thinking look.

"You probably don't understand most of what I said, to put it simply The Black Hand is an organization meant to protect the village no matter what. No matter what kind of dirty tricks or actions we have to resort to, even if we have to murder every single person on this planet we must protect our village. That's the only job we were given. But… Our actions were too much and we became a threat to the village, that's why the Kazekage couldn't afford to get us exposed, so he disbanded us and destroyed anything that could harm the village."

Naruto looked at Kotarou, "You are right, I didn't understand most of it. I don't, even now. All I understand is that you were told to do the worst jobs out there and then your group was disbanded. But what I don't understand is what do you want from me?"

"I want you to become a part of the Black Hand." Naruto seemed confused by all of this, "Why? I'm not from your village and I don't have any ninja training." "We want you because of that. I don' know anything about you but I can see you have been through a lot to become so self aware and distrusting. The point of these gatherings is to get some fresh new recruits so we could train from the very beginning. You are the same. You are smart and have a lot of room for improvement. We want to teach you." "I'm from another village." Naruto responded quickly, "True, but what has that village done for you? Its obvious you have been through a lot. You have been forced to grow up quickly and to abandon your childhood in that village of yours. Is that how a village treats their citizens?" Kotarou asked.

"And what makes you better than them? What proof do I have that you won't do the same as they did or even worse?" Naruto asked, irritation obvious in his voice, "None, I have nothing to tell you that will make you trust me. But I have another solution for you."

Naruto listened intently, "We can teach you to protect yourself." Naruto was surprised by the statement, "Protect myself?" Kotarou looked Naruto in the eye, "That's right, I know I won't win your loyalty no matter what and that you won't trust us. So, how about a deal? We teach you how to protect yourself and in return you protect Suna from the shadows. You won't have to stay here for the rest of your life. You can be selfish and only look out for yourself. But, in return for us teaching you our art of combat, many forbidden arts that you will never, ever find anywhere else, you will have to look out for Suna's best interest from the shadows."

Naruto couldn't believe what he had heard. Protect himself? All this time he was the one who was being chased, but now he was offered the possibility of being the one who chases, "Whats the catch? How can you teach me to protect myself from adults and experienced ninja in just a few weeks? I'm not stupid."

Kotarou released a small laugh, "That's right, by now I have figured that out. What we will teach you is the art of puppetry. Its an art that isn't restricted by age. With it even a baby, just born, could kill the strongest kage. All that you need to master it is a creative mind and the ability to plan ahead of time. We can teach you both. And if you master it, no one will stand in your way and in turn, ours." Kotarou finished as he put forward his hand, "So, deal or no?"

Naruto looked at his hand for a while, "So in order for you to teach me all I have to do is lookout for Suna fom afar?" Kotarou nodded, Naruto almost smirked, "Too easy." Naruto grabbed his hand and shook it, "So, can I finally hear your name?" "Naruto… Uzumaki Naruto."

"Nice to meet you Uzumaki Naruto. Welcome to The Black Hand."

* * *

 **So, this is the first chapter of my rework "Konoha's puppet king" Many things will be different here as you just read it but i will try to keep it mostly the same. At least from now on. Promise. I hope. Or maybe. Anyway, from now on i will probably stop releasing the chapters and write my chapters up to where i stopped with Konoha's puppet king and release them all at once. I will keep Konoha's puppet king alive for now but when it is all done i will probably delete the story. This first chapter is just a simple sampler for you. I spent quite a bit of time on this and i racked my brain to its limit. This is my absolute best writing for the second story and i will only keep on improving from now on with your help ( i hope) So... Few things to point out.**

 ***I am going to save up the documents and release a lot of chapters at once when i reach the point where i stopped at Konoha's puppet king**

 *** I plan to rewrite the fighting scenes and maybe change the puppets, so if you have any puppets ideas drop a suggestion in this story's review section or send a message to me.**

 ***I have no plans for pairing or romances, maybe i will make side chapters for those things but keep the main chapters for the story. So, if you have any pairings you want, you can suggest them and i will consider it.**

 **So, this is all i wanted to point out. Please drop a review and your suggestions.**


	2. Chapter 2: Demons

Chapter 2

Next day

After Sarutobi went out again Naruto went into the town and quickly found the group performing again. After Kotarou saw Naruto he quickly wrapped up the performance spectacularly within a few minutes. Naruto came up to Kotarou and stood there waiting for him to say something. After Kotarou finished packing up he turned to Naruto, "Well then, shall we go?" He smiled his goofy smile again.

Naruto looked at him, "Do you have to do that?" Kotarou smiled wider, "Of course, its a part of my personality when I am out in the open. Now, follow me." Naruto started walking again, "Won't the anbu be a problem? He may report everything to the old man." Naruto asked as he glanced behind him, "Mmmm? Haha, nah, not really. In the eyes of the anbu we are just a normal performer group that you got friendly with. He will only follow you around as long as you are not hurt."

After a few minutes

The rest of the walk was silent as they got to Kotarou's base. Naruto walked behind Kotarou until he went past an open room where the other 3 kids were undergoing some kind of training. Kotarou noticed Naruto's glance at the room so he decided to explain, "That's what you would be undergoing under normal circumstances. However, yours are far from normal. We don't have the time to teach you nice and steady. You will undergo a completely different training, where we will teach you the very basics of being a ninja as fast as we can and make sure you understand the basics of combat with puppets. Our goal is to make sure that after you leave you can complete your training by yourself as it won't be possible for us to meet up and to teach you again." Naruto simply nodded his head and started walking but he looked back again when he saw that Ayami noticed him and started waving her hand with a smile. Naruto simply turned around and walked away while muttering something about "Too cheerful for her own good." Kotarou couldn't help but smirk in response.

After another few minutes of walking Naruto walked into a spacious room, he heard Kotarou close the door behind him and speak, "This is the masterArata's training room. It has everything we will need to quickly teach you the art of puppetry. Normally, no one can enter and train here except Arata but he made an exception and allowed us to use his training room. Now, I won't bother teaching you useless theory, I will teach you what you need directly and explain it very quickly and simply so you would understand everything. There is a spare set of clothes there. Change into them." Kotarou finished as he pointed to the clothes on a small chair. After Naruto quickly changed his clothes Kotarou went to the middle, Naruto followed him.

"Now, no matter what kind of ninja you are the very basic thing that everyone knows and uses is chakra. It is used to power all of our techniques and even to strengthen our bodies. To put it in simple terms, chakra is our energy. We use that energy to fuel our jutsu, once we are out of that energy we can't use anymore jutsu. It is possible to increase it through hard work, but the inborn amount of chakra is also important. Chakra is made up of two energies- Yin and Yang or Physical and spiritual. Physical energy is as it sounds, its your body. If you train your body you increase the amount of Physical energy in your body. Spiritual is everything that concerns the spirit. It can be increased through diligent studying, meditation and constant use of spiritual energy. When both Yin and Yang come together we have chakra. Remember one type of energy must never be above the other. Both must be in harmony. Now, we will unlock your chakra. Sit down on the ground and put your hands on your knees."

Naruto followed Kotarou's instructions and sat down on the ground, "Now close your eyes and try to feel something in your abdomen. That is where your chakra pool resides. When you feel something, imagine a hand in your head, grabbing the energy and pulling it out." For a few minutes there was nothing. Kotarou himself didn't say anything so he wouldn't disturb Naruto, he just silently watched over him. Nothing but Naruto's and Kotarou's breathing could be heard in the room for a while. Sometimes the voices of someone passing by the room but no one disturbed Naruto. A few more minutes later Kotarou saw a blue hue starting to form around Naruto, he simply watched it grow and grow. Then the blue hue exploded out of Naruto into one big wave that formed around him.

When Naruto opened his eyes he saw a surprised Kotarou sitting in front of him, "What? I did it, right?" Naruto asked, "Yeah, you did it. I was simply surprised how fast you did it. Most kids take a little longer to bring it out. Alright, remember that felling you just had. You will be calling upon that energy for as long as you are a ninja." Was what Kotarou said but his mind was saying something completely different, " _This kid…_ _He took a lot less time to bring out his chakra but that was because he had no problem sensing it. Heck, to not sense that much chakra I have no idea how dense you would have to be._ _What the hell was that absurd amount of chakra? It was at academy senior level. For a 5 year old to have this much... I can tell already that this kid with proper training will become a monster in the future. I have to make sure that this monster won't_ _direct_ _his fangs at us_." A small bead of sweat made its way through Kotarou's cheek.

Kotarou quickly cleared his throat, "Alright, now that you can use your chakra we have to make sure you are used to pulling it out. It seems like you have a very big amount of inborn chakra, so we will begin with more advanced methods. For the time being your job is to lift this rock from the palm of you hand using only chakra." To show it he did a quick demonstration, "The point of this exercise is to teach you how gather a lot of chakra into a single place and unleash it in one big burst. If you can do this before I come back, then practice levitating it. Now, get to it." Kotarou threw the small rock into Naruto's hands, stood up and walked out of the room.

After 2 hours

Kotarou came and saw Naruto Trying to levitate the small rock on the palm of his hand, the rock was shaking and falling up and down, occasionally almost falling to the palm. After a few more minutes the rock fell to the ground and Naruto was left siting on the ground, panting, "This is what its like when you use up all of your chakra. Now that you have used up all of your chakra its time to train your body." Naruto's eyes opened and he looked up, "We used up all of your chakra so there is no point in doing anything else with it and with those exercises we increased your spiritual energy so we have to even it out and now increase your physical energy. So stand up and I will teach you how to properly look after your body. Or you are saying that this is too hard and you want to quit? We can call off the deal you know. We will simply erase your memories and we will be nothing more than strangers. I will tell you now but this is the easy part so you would get used to training. From tomorrow onwards I will increase your training difficulty. So, will you run away or will you stand and fight?" Naruto gritted his teeth and heavily stood up on his feet. Kotarou nodded his head, "Now..."

One hour later

Naruto was laying on the ground exhausted and panting heavily, "That's enough for now. Its time to get some food. Come to the room we were yesterday when you can stand up." Naruto didn't even acknowledge that he heard him, he just continued panting on the ground. Kotarou closed the door as he walked out.

10 minutes later

Naruto came into the room without changing his clothes, well, limping to be more specific. He sat down and silently ate his meal, while he saw the rest of the kids were happily chatting around him. Ayami looked at Naruto again, "Hey, do you remember me? We met yesterday. My name is Ayami. Whats your's?" Naruto was about to take a bite but he was stopped by Ayami. A small vein appeared on his forehead, " _Does this girl only talk?_ " He asked himself. From the side Naruto heard the boy with the brown hair, "My name is Kagami." The second girl with short hair, "Mine is Akame. Nice to meet you." Naruto grumbled silently, "Naruto. Now, let me eat in peace." Naruto never had any experience with other kids his age because back in Konoha every single parent lied to their children about Naruto being a bad kid and to not associate with him, so Naruto, in turn, didn't associate with them. The only type of kids he encountered were bullies who thought he was weak and tried to gang up on him. Though that's where he learned what little amount of fighting he did.

Ayami started laughing loudly, "Naruto? You mean like that fish?" Naruto for his part completely drowned out her voice and now that he regained some of his energy took one quick glance around the room and saw that they were not the only ones their age. There were other younger kids in here and everyone was sitting separately in small groups. Naruto looked back to the guys at his table furiously discussing how they were going to be awesome in the future. A small smirk made its way up his face, "Reminded me of something seriously unpleasant." He quietly thought inside his head. Memories of how every single kid he came across with ignored him and memories of how he did nothing but fight with other kids came rushing to his head. Naruto quickly finished his meal and walked up to Kotarou, "Can we continue our training?" Kotarou stopped mid bite and looked at Naruto. A small smirk made its way up his face, "Well well, aren't you enthusiastic." He put down his plate and started walking, Naruto following him again.

3 days later

Naruto and Kotarou were standing in their training room, "Now, I taught you all you need to know to improve your chakra control and how to increase the amount of chakra in your body. I also taught you how to look after your body and the very basics of taijutsu. Dont get conceited though, you didn't even scratch the surface of chakra control and taijutsu, those were merely the basics of the basics. Next, we will move to puppetry. Puppets to put it simply are walking traps. They aren't strong by themselves, but the traps and deadly blades the owner puts inside the puppet and how he uses them are what make a puppet user a force to be reckoned with. A puppeteer's battle isn't in their body, its in their head. How can I use every weapon in the puppets to their maximum efficiency and how can I use my puppets to trap my opponent. Always watching your enemies movements, seeing his flaws, weak points, analyzing his fighting style and coming up with a strategy that would use your puppet to its very limits and exploit your opponents weaknesses. That's what a puppeteer is." Naruto was simply listening to Kotarou though its obvious not every single word registered in his head.

Kotarou suppressed a sigh, "To put it simply, seeing the parts where your opponent is bad in and exploiting them to defeat him, while using your puppet. That's how you fight as a puppeteer. Now, on the ground next to you is a small training dummy all of us have mastered to use before we moved on to the bigger toys. However, we don't have that kind of leisure with you so I increased the difficulty with yours. I added more joints into it and made it more unbalanced and heavier. If you can move that puppet, you can move almost every puppet. Don't forget, we won't completely switch to just teaching you the art of puppetry, this is just another extra in you current regime. Try your best, kid." Kotarou yet again turned around and left the room after explaining the basics of the chakra thread technique to Naruto and showing a small demonstration.

In the hallway

Kotarou was walking to his room when he passed another member of The Black Hand, "Aren't you babying the brat too much? All of us had to spit out blood for weeks before we could figure out what you wanted to say and you just hand it to the brat on a silver platter." "We have to do it. The kid won't be staying here for long so we don't have the time to let him figure everything out. Its best to show him and explain it to him and to let him understand it as he goes. Its Arata's order as well." The man simply let out an annoyed sigh, "Whatever."

3 Hours later

Kotarou came back to the room and saw Naruto struggling with the puppet, " _No surprise there, Its already_ _impossible_ _to form the chakra thread on your first try and to move a simple puppet. The kid has an enormous chakra reserve for someone his age,_ _which increases the difficulty,_ _and has to use a modified_ _doll_ _for increased difficulty_ _on top of it_ _. Forget days, it may even take the time until he has to leave even to move the doll, even if poorly."_

Kotarou cleared his throat, "Alright, that's enough for now. Its time for theoretical practice and we will finish today up with physical training." Kotarou walked up and stood in the middle of the room. Naruto put down his puppet and walked to the middle, "Now..."

2 hours later

Naruto took off his kimono top and splashed some water on his face, slowly sweeping his hair upwards to move it out his face. At the exact moment Ayami barged into the room, "Hey, Naruto. Kotarou sent me to make sure you are still alive." Her eyes landed on Naruto, "Lets go." She wanted to grab his hand but just as she was about to take it Naruto slapped it away. She looked up and saw Naruto staring at her with cold eyes, "DONT. TOUCH .Me." A small lock of hair fell on his eyes again. Ayami took a small step backwards, she looked like she wanted to say something or to smile like she always does, but it seems like she was afraid of something, not knowing what to say or do she turned around and ran out of the room.

Naruto looked back at the water and saw his reflection, especially his cold eyes, his eyes widened as he slowly touched the part near his eyes, "Are these mine? I don't remember them being so cold." Kotarou looked at Naruto from behind the door, " _That's what happens when you are trapped by you past. You try to reject the present and you become cut off from everybody else. You are afraid of your past, the time when you were weak. You are running from it, from the horrors of the past. You confide yourself into a cold, solitary world you slowly created for yourself in your fear, and you keep everyone from reaching out to you. A cold and ruthless individual. For you, who uses his past as motivation for his training, the driving force that keeps you going, it forged your personality anew, changed you, before you noticed it. Sometimes the past are the shackles that keep you from moving forward and we should free you from it, however, I can't have that. If you lose your hatred for your past, your weakness, you may lose the drive to become stronger and to improve yourself. That, is something that I can't allow to happen,_ _not yet._ " Kotarou walked back to the dinning hall as he pondered on how he should move next, "Him becoming stronger is alright but he must remember our deal, he must not become arrogant and delusional of his strength. So, how will I go about doing that, beating him to the ground will only make his drive stronger..."

10 minutes later

Naruto walked into the dining room and sat down in his usual spot, Ayami slowly shifted farther from him, not talkative as usual, " _How weird, I feel no pity or remorse. Rather, when I look at her I feel superior, stronger, like I can do whatever I want with her. I only spent 3 days training under Kotarou, I understand how inferior I am compared to him, but when I look at Ayami, Akame or even Kagami, I feel superior. Like there is no chance of them beating me._ " He looked around the room, " _The same is for everyone else, I feel like they are beneath me. Is this what they call… Being stronger_? _This feeling is addicting. More so than sweet candy._ " Naruto pondered in his head.

Naruto let out a sigh, " _No, I must not think like that. If I become so arrogant just after 3 days I will be no better than that village. I trained so they wouldn't be able to do what they want with me anymore. These guys mean nothing to me, nothing more than people I will see for a short while. I must forget about them. My true enemy awaits in Konoha. If I don't become stronger, then the same things will repeat themselves again_." Naruto narrowed his eyes, quickly finished his meal and set down the bowl on his table. Without a second glance to the party at his table he stood up again and went to Kotarou, "I want to continue." Kotarou looked like he was in thought, "Alright, lets go." Naruto started walking again, he didn't see the gazes of the trio that were sitting beside him.

" _I will become stronger and the past will never repeat. No, I won't allow it to repeat itself._ " naruto was walking with determination shinning in his eyes. Though there was a small voice at the back of his head, " **Why not make them submit to you? You are stronger after all.** " Nothing but a small voice he didn't even hear right now.

Kagami turned to face Ayami, "Did something happen? You seemed kinda careful around Naruto." He asked as he was eating with a completely oblivious face. Ayami shook her head, "Nothing." Akame looked around, "Did he do something? Did he bully you? Why that jerk, hold on I will teach him a lesson."Akame said as she was standing up. Memories flooded Ayami's head. The cold eyes, that were screaming with hate like they wanted to tear everything they came across apart. A shiver went down her spine and the thought of Akame going against that made her jump back, "No no, its fine. He didn't do anything. I just interrupted him and got on his bad side. It was my bad."She said as she let down her head. Akame and Kagami looked to each other and shrugged before continuing their meals. Ayame meanwhile griped both her hands together, " _Those eyes… Scary._ " She opened her eyes as she looked back, " _But…_ "

4 Days Later

The following days were starting to get worse. The voice started growing stronger. Kotarou went to Arata for advice, but all he got from him was, "Arrogance, the voice of pride. The voice that is born from feeling stronger than anyone else. Its a small demon that every living being nurtures inside themselves and when a living being begins to acquire power, the demon grows. The demon known as "Emperor" The demon who wants to rule everything. That is the dark side of every human. Every human deep inside wants to become an Emperor. Standing tall and proud, their name reaching the heavens, armies open a path when he walks, the sun itself hiding before his greatness. That's what we call The Emperor's dream. No one is beneath or above it. The question is, whether you will try to embrace the Emperor's dream or overcome it. No one until today knows the right answer. With no ambition humans are mere lumps of flesh, husks, with too much ambition people turn into madmen, tyrants. So, the question is, where does one stop? To each person there is his own answer."

Naruto became more agitated with each failure and his drive increased with each wall he faced. The fear of the past repeating itself, gnawed at Naruto's mind like a parasite. The thought of living in fear again. It made him rush things and he wanted to become stronger with each day.

"Gaah."Naruto fell to the ground again when he was punched by Kotarou, "Alright, that's enough for today. Wash up and go grab some food." Naruto wanted to stand up again, "Not yet, I can still keep on going." Kotarou looked back and smirked, he calmly walked to Naruto and unleashed a hard kick that sent him flying, "I don't agree with you." He left the door and pretended to not notice Ayami standing there.

Naruto shakily stood up while leaning on a wall. A few coughs later he dropped his top kimono and went to bucket with water to wash away the sweat. He splashed some water on his face and put the hands on the edge of the bucket, silently watching the water. He looked at his bruised knuckles and his tired face and yet, only one thing came to mind, "Not strong enough." Naruto turned around and was surprised when he saw Ayami standing there with a worried face, and there was a little fear in her eyes, but Naruto didn't see her anymore, he could only think, "What does this weakling want?"

" _She has been constantly following me these past 4 days. What the hell does she want from me? I thought she was afraid of me. Ahh, I just don't get it._ " Naruto racked his brain for an answer, nothing came to mind.

She walked forward and gently handed a towel to Naruto, he looked at her confused, "What do you want?" Was the only thing he asked, "I don't know. I am just curious." Naruto took the towel quickly, wiped his face and walked by her while picking up his kimono on the way and putting it on, "Curious? About what? I don't have anything that would make you curious.". "Why do you try so hard, Naruto? I mean, that training seems painful, and yet, you always ask for more. Don't you get hurt?". Naruto just looked at her with a dumb expression, not knowing, whether to laugh or mock her, "Whatever."

As he was walking to the dinning hall he saw Ayame slowly walking behind him, not a word. Naruto stopped his step and turned around, "What? What do you want from me?" He asked, irritated. She just tilted her head, "I am heading to the dinning hall." Naruto was surprised by the obvious answer. He almost let out a laugh at his own stupid question, "Right."

The dinning hall

Naruto didn't waste any time, he quickly ate his food and went to Kotarou, "Lets continue." Kotarou for his part shook his head, "Not this time." Naruto was surprised, "What? Didn't you say you would train me? Are you going back on your word now?" Kotarou smiled, "No, I will train you, but not now. I have something scheduled for tonight." Naruto was confused and wanted to ask something further but Kotarou's face said the conversation was over, "Go pick up your trio and wait for me in the main training room."

Naruto was confused but still did as he was told. He went to his table and after telling them what he was told the four kids made their way to the main training room. It was spacious, for being underground. They weren't the only ones there, students went into the room one after another.

After a while, when every student seemed accounted for, Arata came into the middle of the room, "Alright, it seems like everyone has gathered here. You probably wanted to ask me why I gathered you here right now. Well, the answer to your question is very simple. Its for you, disciples, to fight. It won't be anything like an arena, but we will give out rewards. You can challenge anyone you want, you can refuse and set the conditions on your own. You can challenge someone you dislike to a fight, you can fight 2v1 or 100v1 as long as both sides agree. No matter what, the winning side will get prizes, which are techniques. We will pass down more advanced techniques based on the number of opponents you won against, depending on the levels of your opponents, difficulty of the match and the number of consecutive wins. Even if you defeat 1000 disciples who only started it wont amount to 1 disciple who is strong and has been training for a while. Though if the disciple is strong but trained for a short while the rules change. What we want are clean matches, no dirty tricks. Only winning through your own power and mind will we count it as your win. So, disciples, go ahead and fight to your hearts content. Be aware though, your sensei can also refer you to a fight. So, the challenges can start now."

Obviously after being told something like that many people were afraid and were scouting out their competition. Not a moment before Arata finished his speech Kotarou put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "You have been going under the intense training regime. If you won't be number 1 It will only show that I wasted my time. So..." Kotarou pushed Naruto out into the middle, "I, Kotarou, refer my student Uzumaki Naruto to a fight. Its a survival round. Anyone can come at him for as long as he holds out. He will only win if he defeats every single challenger, if he looses even a single duel, its the challenger's win.

Naruto stood there frozen, Kotarou's words repeating themselves in his head, "Oh, I forgot to mention, he has been going under the intensive training regime for 7 days now, so… He probably amounts to a disciple who spent approximately one month here. If you defeat him, you will gain a very big lead." After those words most students turned from frightened lambs into hungry wolfs, the thought that he only trained for 7 days and he has such a high reward was a very pleasing deal to everyone here. New or old.

One kid stepped up immediately, "I, Ragna, challenge Uzumaki Naruto." And he immediately got into his taijutsu stance. Naruto, confused, looked around and he saw Arata nodding his head. One more look around the room and he almost fell to despair when he remembered the conditions. But then… then he saw the eyes everyone held. Hungry eyes, like wolfs looking at a lost lamb. Konoha… The word appeared in his head. He looked like he blanked out for a while. The challenger and even Kotarou seemed confused for a while, Ayami and the other two seemed a little worried that he broke under the pressure.

"Konoha… Konoha… Konoha… This… This is the same… The same as that place...Wolfs….Lamb..." **Conquer** " They...Wolfs...Me….Lamb…." The words kept, " **Conquer** " spinning in his head like a broken record,

" **Conquer.** "

Naruto looked blankly at his fist, bruised. The memories rushed back, the hurt, the pain. The pain…, "Me...Lamb?No….I have, " **I am the strongest… No one will defeat me…. I alone am superior… I am the strongest**." sharpened my fangs… I am no longer a lamb… Neither am I a wolf…. I…I... **will**... **conq** uer th **em**."

A dark aura surrounded Naruto and he lifted his head, cold eyes. Colder, than the frozen ice during the winter, " _I won't suffer anymore. I have trained myself. I will be the one who will make others suffer._ " Naruto didn't even take a proper stance, he kept looking at his challenger like he wasn't worth his attention, " **Ste** p aside, **you** are n **o** t fit to be **my** opp **one** nt. No **on** e is, I am **abo** ve you **al** l."

Kotarou looked at Naruto from the side, " _There it is, pride, arrogance. Naruto's Emperor. His pride and arrogance speaking through him. So, naruto, will you be defeated and controlled by your Demons of fear or will you be the one who takes the reigns. Let me witness it_."

Ragna let out a scream and charged Naruto. Quickly throwing his right fist forward. Naruto ducked the punch and grabbed the belt on Ragna's waist. Standing up and pulling on the belt Naruto thrusted his knee forward, hitting Ragna hard on the stomach. Naruto raised his elbow and hit the back of his head without holding back. Ragna fell to the floor quickly, unconscious. Naruto stood there for a while looking at the other kids around him, "I told you, none of you can defeat me. You can try, but none will succeed."

"I challenge Uzumaki Naruto." Another voice came from behind naruto, "I don't know how cool and strong you think you are but no one is afraid of you here." He charged. Naruto simply gazed at him, just as the challenger was about to put the last step near Naruto, Naruto quickly unleashed a furious kick. Just as the challenger's leg landed on the ground Naruto's kick reached his leg, completely blowing it away and making him fall. Naruto reared back his fist and smashed it into the challengers face, smacking it into the ground, " _I can do this. Their speed can't even compare to Kotarou's. I have trained, I became stronger. I won't lose anymore, and all of you will become nothing more than a testament to my strength._ "

"I challenge Uzumaki Naruto" This time two voices sounded at the same time. Naruto looked at them, the two challengers were looking at each other furiously as if saying "I will be the one fighting." Naruto simply said, "Doesn't matter, both of you come at me at the same time."

Some time later

Naruto stood in the middle of the room, bloodied, panting, exhausted. A pile of unconscious and bloodied bodies around him. His eyes changed from cold and uncaring into vicious. Like a rabid animal ready to bite anyone who comes near him. With so many challenges one after another Naruto was left exhausted. With no time to rest between the challenges for such a young kid it was taxing on his mind to defend against the pressure of such fierce combat. Somewhere along the way his dignified stance shattered and Naruto started fighting like a savage beast, no mercy. To anyone who attacked him, he would unleash a flurry of punches and kicks that would beat the challenger into the ground. Where he punched, even if he was going overboard, it didn't matter to Naruto anymore, his exhausted mind just kept on repeating one sentence like a mantra, "I won't lose, no matter what."

Kotarou just stared with an impassive gaze, " _Now that you are brought to your very limit its time to face your demons, Naruto. Will you take control or will you be the one controlled by your fear?_ "

"I challenge Uzumaki Naruto." A student came forward. Black hair that was combed backwards into a small ponytail and the traditional disciple kimono. Its obvious he was not like the rest. A toned body, for a kid, a serious expression showed that he was one of the senior disciples. Kotarou looked at the student, "Isn't that kid that guy's student?" He looked at one member of The Black Hand, standing in the shadows with a smirk. The man, who confronted Kotarou previously about making it too easy on Naruto, " _Pfft, there is no way you will get everything so easily, brat. I will show you that even if you undergo the intense training regime, it won't amount to much against my disciple._ " Kotarou sighed from the side, "I should have known, Ayato was always one who didn't like it when people got different, easier, treatment."

Naruto looked at the challenger with a gaze screaming bloody murder and charged once he stepped into the middle. When he was near him Naruto threw a flurry of punches at the boy, trying to land a punch on any point that would hurt him really bad. Though it didn't work as the boy smoothly defended against each punch, his form showing just how much practice he put into his fighting training. When another punch came the challengers way he brought up his arm and without putting much force into it he pushed Naruto's arm by the wrist until the punch was completely redirected into the side. Using the opening he got the boy, with his second arm grabbed the front of Naruto's kimono, near the neck, and unleashed a powerful knee into his gut, while pulling Naruto into him.

Naruto spat out some blood and saliva from the strong knee kick. The challenger pushed Naruto away, without letting go of his kimono, and pulled him again, his first arm grabbing onto Naruto's belt and the boy started spinning, intent on throwing Naruto over himself and onto the hard floor. Naruto's instincts reacted and he bent one knee and using his other leg he kicked the back of the challenger knee, the boy hit his knee into the floor very hard, but Naruto didn't stop, with momentum now stopped Naruto quickly grabbed the back of the challengers head with his arm and smashed his knee into his face.

Naruto tried to regain his balance and took a few steps back, using the short break the challenger quickly regained his bearings and took his stance, "There's no way I will lose, if I lose then it means nothing has changed." The mantra kept on repeating in Naruto's head. Both boys charged into each other and a vicious exchange began again, with Naruto using every combination of kicks and punches he knew and the challenger doing his best to smoothly defend against each attack. Both boys let some punches through from time to time, which made them even more bloody but they didn't stop or let it frighten them. The battle was all that mattered to each boy and they got so caught up in it that they slowly started to forget about their surroundings, "How can I get past his defenses? How can I make an opening?" Were the only things that occupied their minds right now.

Somewhere along the way even Naruto's eyes lost that savage look and became more composed, not cold and uncaring like they were before, but calm and with a tactical look in them. The fear of his past repeating again faded away during this fight and nothing mattered to him anymore, he just wanted to win this fight, not as a testament to his strength but because he felt like he genuinely didn't want to lose. The other boy had similar thoughts.

Kotarou laughed a little from the side, "Nothing like a good punch to the face to clear your head."

Naruto threw another punch but just as it was about to reach the opponent it stopped and Naruto did a quick shuffle with his feet and kicked as hard as he could with his right leg. The challenger blocked the kick with his arm, but naruto didn't finish. He brought back his leg and instead of trying to perform a combo move he stopped and did a heavy right punch. Surprised the challenger barely blocked it, but Naruto didn't bring back his hand, he opened his palm and grabbed the challengers arm by the wrist and yanked on it as hard as he could and thew another kick at his exposed side. The kick landed and made the challenger gasp for air.

He gritted his teeth and grabbed Naruto's arm with with the one Naruto was holding. He used his superior strength to his advantage and this time pulled Naruto as hard as he could. Surprised, Naruto's balance was destroyed and he could only watch as the challenger reared back his fist and punched Naruto in the face with all his strength. Everything went black immediately.

Naruto opened his eyes and saw that he was still on the ground, the challenger standing above him, panting, this view immediately reminded Naruto of Konoha. His fear came back full force and his heart started beating quickly he was about to go into a frenzy but he heard someone speak, "You know, for a rookie you are strong. You put me in a tight spot there." Naruto's eyes refocused again and he scanned the room quickly, he saw that no one other than the challenger was talking, "Haha, I didn't have such a fun battle in a long time. My name is Ryuzaki." He said that as he extended his hand. Naruto sat on the ground dumbfounded, "I'm… Strong?" he repeated his words in his head. He glanced at Kotarou from the corner of his eyes. Kotarou did a simple X with his hands. A vein appeared on Naruto's forhead, "Haaah, whatever. I lost." Naruto ignored his hand and stood up, "Annoying."

Kotarou looked at Naruto with a blank expression, "Nothing like a good battle to clear your head. Us men are simple creatures. All we need is one good battle and everything is put to place for us. It looks like Naruto's fear has been somewhat suppressed… But his attitude is like always."

Naruto walked past Ryuzaki, who was looking at him with a confused face. Naruto finally walked past His sensei and the trio, he wasn't stopping, until he heard a quiet, "Cool." He turned around to see who said that and saw Ayami looking at him with start in her eyes, "At first, you were scary but when you fought that last guy you were awesome." She yelled looking at him. Naruto took one step back, "Yeah, that was awesome." Kagami joined in, "Wow, you are seriously strong." Akame threw in her two cents.

Naruto was looking at them with an expression that obviously said "What the Hell?" "Whatever, I need some rest." He walked back to his room. Kotarou smirked, only he saw the faint red tint on Naruto's cheek.

* * *

 **Demons, eh? We all have them. That small Shia Lebouf in our head that is screaming "JUST DO IT"**

 **Haha, good times. Anyway, i changed my mind. A little. Not too little. But still changed it. I won't upload every chapter, i will only upload the parts where Naruto got into puppeteering and his own little adventures and dilemmas. I thought maybe i could do this as a fun little prologue to my story. You know, the part where i can say in the end TO BE CONTINUED and then its the real story from then. Though my last prologue-like chapter in Konoha's puppet king got too extended and with nothing really to show for it. So, i decided why not make this prologue into a fun little adventure where Naruto had to deal with stuff.**

 **Anyway, rate, review and stuff... Drop a hate comment if you like, i love it when people hate me :D. Joking. So, this is the end. Sypnotick...Wait for it... OUT**


	3. Chapter 3: Prologue end

Chapter 3: Prologue end

One week later

Kotarou's base

The noise of wood hitting against wood kept sounding through the empty corridors. In Arata's training room two puppets were fighting against each other, trying to get any advantage over each other they possibly could. Well, to be exact, one puppet was barely moving and its punches and kicks were as slow as they could possibly be, the other puppet was simply dancing around the first one.

The first puppet tried to land another punch on the second one, but the second one dodged it to the side and with a quick charge closed the distance between Naruto and it. As soon as it closed the distance it punched Naruto in the gut, sending him tumbling backwards. Kotarou sighed from the side, "I told you already, even if your puppet is the one that is doing the fighting you must never forget to move your own body. If you concentrate only on fighting with your puppet your opponent may gain the advantage and strike you down before you react."

Naruto leaned on a training dummy as he stood up and coughed a few times, "I'm trying, if I could simply do everything you tell me to I wouldn't be here training." Kotarou moved his fingers again and the puppet quickly closed the gap and punched Naruto again, "And yet, there was barely any improvement here. You can finally move the puppet, but your abilities are so poor it would be a shame to call it even beginner level, its even below that, if possible. You can finally walk on the walls for a few minutes before you lose control, we improved your taijutsu and I drilled everything I could about battling with puppets and anything else you need, but honestly, you are so slow I could have trained another 10 disciples to your level in the time it took you to reach here. Your level itself is barely above beginner even though we have been here for 2 weeks. With this training regime most would be around advanced beginner right now." Kotarou sighed, "I hope you don't get killed as soon as you get some action. It would mean I wasted so much time here. Alright, enough resting, move your puppet.

"Asshole..." Naruto said in a tone, barely above a whisper, "Increased difficulty tomorrow." Naruto's eyes shot open. "An opening." Kotarou yelled in a bored tone. Kotarou's puppet jumped over Naruto's and with another quick sprint it charged Naruto and punched him in the gut, sending him tumbling again, " _Well, its only been 2 weeks so I didn't expect much from him, but the kid made some nice progress here. Probably a big portion of other kids would have given up or be stuck halfway where he is. Though I can't have him become cocky so I need to constantly beat up the kid and tell him how weak he is_." Kotarou sighed again, "Alright, that's enough for today. Wash up and lets grab some food." Naruto cut off the chakra threads from the puppet and went to the bucket to wash up.

Honestly, from Naruto's point of view the time spent here after the small tournament could be described in one word – Hell. Kotarou used the tournament as an excuse to point out every single flaw Naruto did during the tournament and used that as an excuse to increase the training difficulty. With extreme training for hours, then he would have to deal with the annoying trio – Kagami, Akame and Ayame. After the tournament they began to look up to Naruto because he was so strong only after a week of training. They constantly asked him for tips and always asked him to show some cool techniques, even though Naruto himself didn't know any. Ayame even took it to the next level, she even began to follow Naruto around like a lost puppy, much to his annoyance. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse all of them even began to call Naruto "senpai" because he was undergoing tougher training than them.

Naruto sighed again as he washed up his face, "I got better, but… It still isn't enough. I have to become stronger, much stronger. Ryuzaki was strong, I thought I could beat every other disciple here, but he appeared like out of nowhere. After he beat me I realized that there are more strong people out there that I don't know about. People stronger than me, Ryuzaki, maybe even Kotarou. I have to become stronger than the village, than Kotarou... Strongest of them all." Naruto thought inside his head as he clenched his fist.

Just as he was finishing up Ayami barged in through the door, "Morning, Senpai. You still alive? Lets go grab some food." Naruto did his best to ignore Ayami, but her words caught his attention, "Hey, Senpai. What is that tattoo on your back?" Naruto's eyes shot open, "Tattoo?" Naruto turned around to look at Ayami, "What are you talking about?" Ayami titled her head, "Well, you have a tattoo on your back. What, did you forget about it yourself?" She said as she turned around and pointed the spot on the back of her neck, "Its right here." Naruto stared wide eyed at her, "Ayami, I swear if its another one of your jokes..." Ayami's eyes opened up, "What? I'm serious! It looks like this." She said as she began drawing some random symbols in the air and trying to describe it to the best that she could.

Naruto stared at her for a few seconds trying to make out the scribble she tried to do in the air and her description, " _I never had any tattoos before. Its at the back of my neck? Well, this is Ayami, but… She doesn't look like she is lying. I should talk with Kotarou-shishou about this._ " Naruto looked up as Ayami walked right in front of him and grabbed the towel on his head. She gripped it tightly and started roughly moving it on Naruto's head in random circles, "Ow!" Naruto grabbed her hands and pushed them away, "What are you doing?" Ayami smiled, "My mom told me that if you don't properly dry your hair you will catch a cold." Naruto looked at her blankly, "Only idiots catch colds." He said as he put on his kimono top and walked past her and out of the room. Ayami turned around, "Senpai, wait up."

Naruto walked into the dinning room and his eyes quickly fell on Kotarou. He started walking towards Kotarou, but Ayami grabbed him by his wrist, "Our table is that way. Or did you forget?" Naruto looked back, "I will join you guys later, I need to talk to Kotarou-shishou." Naruto turned around and walked to Kotarou's table, "Shishou, can we talk?" Kotarou turned to Naruto, "Go ahead." Naruto glanced around, "Can we talk, somewhere more private?" Kotarou put on a confused face, "Alright." He said as he stood up and started walking.

In a different room

After Kotarou found a quiet room Naruto told him about the tattoo Ayami saw on his neck. Kotarou put on a thinking face, "Tattoo? You don't have anything like that. At least I don't think so… Turn around." Naruto turned around. Kotarou looked at Naruto's neck for a few second, " _There's nothing_ _t_ _here. But from what Naruto told me, Ayami did a rather detailed description._ _Her lies are obvious so they are easy to see through. I don't think she was making stuff up, but there is nothing there_."

" _Hmm, it could be that I just didn't notice it because Naruto's hair was covering it up. But that doesn't explain the fact that Naruto himself didn't know about it_." Kotarou was pondering inside his head. His slit eyes opened a little, "Naruto, channel some chakra." Naruto was confused for a while but did as he was told and starting releasing some chakra around him. For a few seconds there was nothing but then Kotarou put his palm on the back of Naruto's head and moved his hair upwards a little. After the hair was out of the way, a little symbol revealed itself, "S _o, its like this. This isn't a tattoo, its a seal. A good one at that. Its made that it would only show itself if the person would use chakra_. _But… I have never seen anything like it before. It didn't effect Naruto in any way. He can battle freely, there are no changes to his personality when he uses chakra, no second chakra in his system. It looks like a simple tattoo. But to go to_ _through all the trouble_ _to hide it_ _and do it so_ _discreetly_ _so that even Naruto wouldn't know about it_ _. I doubt its there_ _just_ _for show_." Kotarou sighed, "Yep, its there."

Naruto's eyes widened as he cut off the chakra flow and turned around, "What?"Kotarou lifted one hand, "Calm down, first of all that is not a tattoo, its a seal. Even I don't know what it is but until we know its best to leave it be." Naruto's eyes widened, "A seal? How? When?" Kotarou thought about it for a while, "Its probably been there for a while. Seals don't activate and its done, there should have been some preparation to put it on you and it should have been given time to settle down. It has probably been on you before you even arrived at Suna. I don't know who or when put it on you, but for now, act like you don't know its there. Don't tell anybody and I mean anybody about it. Got that?" Naruto nodded his head, "Good, I will look into the seal. It shouldn't act up since it hasn't until now, so you focus on your training and pretend you don't know its there. I will have a talk with Ayami. Now, go have some food and rest up because later, I will teach you a new combat technique. Also, wait up. I will make a quick copy of the seal so I can study it." Naruto nodded his head and left the room after Kotarou was done. Kotarou was left in thought for a few minutes, looking at the seal "I better consult Arata."

Some time later

Naruto and Kotarou stood in the training room, "Alright, the next combat technique I will teach you will be "Emotion"." Naruto stood there confused, "Emotion? Alright, you lost me. You mean, Those emotions, right? The ones: happy, sad etc." Kotarou nodded his head, "How can emotion be a combat technique?" Naruto asked. Kotarou smiled, "Emotion is a very good combat technique. Not everybody can learn to use it. Most people fail to control their emotions. Even you won't be able to do this right now, but I think its worthwhile to tell you about it because I believe you can master it in the future." Naruto stood there dumbfounded, "Right, I am gonna go practice with the puppets." Kotarou sighed from the side, "Even I haven't mastered my emotions you know. In our group master Arata has the best control over his emotions. I doubt any of this is getting through to you, so, I want you to pick up that kunai and attack me." Naruto looked to his right and saw a kunai stuck in a training dummy near him.

He picked up the kunai and charged Kotarou. For a few seconds there was nothing, but as Naruto was two steps from Kotarou he felt a shiver going down his spine. The relaxed and easy going aura around Kotarou disappeared and was replaced with a malicious aura. It was an aura Naruto had felt before, but it was stronger. A lot stronger than the simple glaring ones who wish they could hurt Naruto. A sense of dread overcame Naruto. He saw what felt like a vision of the future, Naruto coming near Kotarou and being struck in one quick move. Naruto's head flying off from the rest of his body. Naruto's body froze in one spot and he couldn't move those last two steps towards Kotarou. Its was as if a tiger has cornered his prey and was about to jump in for the kill. Naruto, was about to break under he pressure. Instantly, the pressure disappeared and was replaced with a relaxed atmosphere again.

Naruto looked up to Kotarou, while sweating bullets, "This, is one of many emotions you can use in battle. In battle emotions have their own benefits, each emotion brings forth something, but if you let that emotion overwhelm you, it will be your downfall. For example, if in battle you suppress your emotions, you can think clearly and move with precision. If you become angry, you call forth power. If you become sad and pessimistic you become more careful and planning. Each emotion heightens one of your abilities at the cost of lowering some of the others, each emotion will cost you something. Finally, at the very bottom of the cellar of each person there is one emotion, wrath. Wrath is like an upgraded version of anger. When you call forth anger you obtain strength, power. But when you call forth Wrath, you bring forth destruction, your strength goes even higher than when you use anger. But the reason why nobody uses wrath is because the cost is your reasoning. You become unable to distinguish foe from ally. You destroy everybody in your way. Also, at the peak of Wrath control there sleeps Killing Intent. When your wrath accumulates enough, it becomes the Will to Kill. Not simply destroying everything and leaving it, but actually taking the life of another person. What you experienced was my Killing Intent. I compressed my Wrath together and called forth my Will to Kill you, in turn, your instincts warned you about my intentions and made you freeze in fear for your safety. If your mind and will are stronger than your opponents then you can even beat them with Killing Intent. But be warned, the price of Killing Intent is your humanity. When you use it, you become able to kill a person, but each time you use it you lose your emotions that make you human, pity, guilt and along the way kindness. All that is left in the end is the peak of wrath, you become Wrath itself. If your Killing Intent overwhelms you, you will turn into a demon that murders everyone he sees." Naruto gulped.

Kotarou smirked, "See? Emotion control can be useful. Now, I will teach you how to control your emotions. You see, the trick is to be able to call forth the particular emotion you want and being able to suppress them at will. I find it easier for me to use my memories. If I want to use anger, I recall something that would make me angry, if I want to become more cunning and planning I recall something that made me lose faith in this world so I would become more pessimistic and if I want to suppress my emotions I let rationality take control and try to do everything with simple reasoning."

Naruto stared at Kotarou for a while, "Why would I want to become pessimistic?" Kotarou smirked, "Surprisingly, its useful. When you become pessimistic, you assume that your enemy will see through every single move you make, so you start creating a one big web of plans that you can rely on in any situation. Being optimistic is the same, you assume that every single move you make will go according to plan and you gain courage." Naruto was trying really hard to comprehend everything but it was obvious he was having a really hard time, Kotarou smirked, "I know, its hard. I was the same as you when Arata explained it to me for the first time." Naruto focused again, "But what about Killing Intent? How do you call it forth and how do you remain in control?" Kotarou opened his eyes slightly, "That, my student, is a secret. Each person has his own way to call forth his Killing Intent. Some try to recall painful memories that would make them call for blood. Others, harden their resolve to carry the guilt of killing somebody. To each his own, my student."

Naruto simply hmmed and looked like he was in thought, "Alright, lets continue your basic training. I will try to help you with your emotion control from tomorrow onwards." Naruto nodded his head.

One week later

Naruto came into the training room and saw Kotarou sitting on the ground, "You called?" Kotarou nodded his head and signaled for Naruto to sit down in front of him. When he did Kotarou spoke, "Alright, I guess this is it. You will be leaving today so this is where your training ends. These were a short 3 weeks but I'm glad I was the one who got to teach you." Naruto nodded his head, "Now, I have some parting gifts." He said as he took out of his bag some objects and put them between naruto and himself.

He took a thick, brown book and handed it to Naruto, "This will help you with your training. During these 3 weeks I put in all of my effort into writing it. Well, to tell the truth, this book was handed down to me, but it was never finished so I decided to rewrite some parts and to finish the book. In here you will find taijutsu techniques, chakra control techniques, puppet combat techniques various people came up with and even poison recipes. I also included other stuff like puppet designs you may find useful and fuinjutsu beginner lessons. Anyway, you will just read it yourself.

He took a red scroll and handed it to Naruto, "This scroll contains a lot of materials you will need. You said you are an orphan so I bet getting funds for training would be difficult so I packed in here a lot of things you will need, though, it will only last you for a while so you should try to think of some ways to make money." Naruto nodded his head.

Kotarou took another scroll, this time black, "Inside this scroll, there is a forbidden technique. Its incomplete because it was only recently that we acquired it, or truth be told, tried to recreate it. Its a technique called Human Puppet technique. Its as it sound a technique that turns humans into puppets, allowing them to retain their chakra system and kekkei genkai. All of those abilities at your disposal. This scroll-" "Wait, Wait, Wait! Wait just a minute. Human puppets? Turning real humans into puppets for their abilities? Wh-" "Listen, Naruto. I know what you are thinking right now. Believe me, I do. But believe me when I say that normal puppetry has its limits. It is very difficult to overcome them. Many tried, very few succeeded. Sooner or later you will encounter them. For now take this scroll and hold on to it. Simply keep it near you. When the time comes and you find yourself in need of power, you will know where to look. Right now, simply trust your shishou and just leave it at the back of your mind. In due time you will understand why I'm giving this to you" Naruto knew that Kotarou wouldn't give him something useless or something that will put him in harms way. So, reluctantly he decided to trust Kotarou and put it in his bag.

"And lastly, there is one thing I have to pass on to you. Its a technique that only the current leader and the second in command know how to pass on and only people they have approved of can gain this technique. Roll up your right sleeve and give me your hand." naruto did as he was told and extended his hand to Kotarou. Kotarou opened a bottle of ink and took a brush, then he began painting some seals on Naruto's arm. After he was done Naruto took a look at the seal on his arm, it was a pitch black seal with intricate yet elegant writing and what seemed like a small demonic eye in the middle of it all.

"This, Naruto, is a secret technique you can only gain if you have mastered your emotions to a certain degree. You haven't mastered yours, but I don't think I will be able to pass it on to you in the future and I believe you will one day achieve that level of mastery. So, I passed this seal on to you and added some extra details. This seal will now be locked, but after a certain amount of years the lock will expire and hopefully you will have mastered you emotions enough to use it. This seal has a name in our group its called, "Emperors Wrath". Its a seal that forcefully draws out a very big amount of wrath from inside you. It will cause you to enter a state similar to berserk but if you have enough control over your emotions you will be able to retain your sanity. The seal will also automatically draw your chakra through itself and, how to say it, make it stronger, more potent but the more power you call upon the harder it will be to retain your sanity so you have to make sure to diligently try to master your emotions until the lock on the seal expires. The book I gave you earlier will have a more detailed explanation written in it." Naruto examined the seal on his hand again.

"That is all." Kotarou said with a bored tone. Naruto stood up and bowed, "Thanks." Kotarou smirked, "What for? We had a deal, remember? As long as you remember it its fine. Now scram, brat, I have some important matters to attend to." A vein appeared on Naruto's, "Fine, douche." Naruto walked through the door after sending one last glance towards Kotarou.

Kotarou sat there in the silence, "Phew, I'm not good with goodbyes and stuff. But, it was actually fun hanging around with the brat. If its him I bet he will be alright, but now, I lost my only source of fun around here." A small shadow appeared in the corner of the room, "Missing him already?" Kotarou smirked, "Nah, its more like I'm looking forward to see what he will accomplish in the future." The shadow smirked, "True, he was kind of interesting, for a kid. Anyway, Arata wants to see you." Kotarou nodded his head.

Hallway

Naruto was nearing the exit when the trio caught up to him, "Senpai, are you really leaving?" Ayami shouted as she caught up to him, the other two also ran beside her. Naruto took a glance at them, "Yeah." Ayami finally stopped panting and straightened her back, "Why didn't you tell us?" Kagami asked as he also finally straightened up, "There was no real reason to." Naruto answered.

Ayami looked at Naruto's arm then at Naruto, "Of course there is, you are our senpai. If we won't be able to see you anymore we want to at least say goodbye." Naruto looked through the three of them and saw that they all agreed. He sighed, "So, you will be happy if you get to say goodbye?" All three nodded their heads, "This won't be the last time we see you, right, senpai?" Naruto sighed, " _I'm not good with goodbyes and stuff._ " He thought in his head, "Who knows, maybe we will see each other again, maybe not." Ayami seemed down after hearing that. Naruto scratched the back of his head with an annoyed look on his face, "Look, I'm not good with this stuff. I don't know if we will meet again, but there is nothing that says we won't meet. As long as you don't forget about me then there will always be a chance, and later on a way, for us to meet." All tree kids smiled, "Alright, then I will work hard and next time I will become cool like Senpai." Ayami said with start shinning in her eyes. Naruto turned around, "Whatever, do your best, midget." Naruto said as he walked out of the base ignoring the yells "I'm not a midget."

Village gates

Sarutobi saw Naruto come into view, walking slowly. After a minute Naruto walked up to Sarutobi and the Kazekage, "Ah, finally. Alright then, thank you for your hospitality, Kazekage. I hope that this alliance will benefit both of our villages." The Kazekage nodded his head, "Yes, I hope that our villages will prosper in peace from now on."

Sarutobi looked down to Naruto behind him, who simply bowed and said nothing, "Alright, we can't spend here all day so we will set off now. Farewell, Kazekage." The kazekage nodded his head, "Safe travels, Hokage."

* * *

 **Alrighty then, chapter 3 is done and this signals the end of the prologue. Now, I will seriously stop uploading chapters until I'm done catching up with the original story. Nothing too serious in this chapter… Damn, I don't know what to say. So…Haha, how was your new year? I hope all of you didn't get too excited, though, I hope you did have a pleasant time. Its important to release all the stress you kept pent up during the year and do your best with the "New year, new me" stuff. Though, I personally follow the, "New year, why should I change. I'm perfectly fine as I am" hype.**

 **Also, i have decided to add a progress tracker to my profile. If you are curious where i currently am, you can go to my profile and see what part i am currently writing.**

 **Anyway, I don't really have anything to say. Keep on sending those puppet ideas, I still accept them. Sypnotick, out.**

 **Oh and… I will enjoy this.**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**


	4. Chapter 4: The Genin Test

Chapter 4: Genin Test

7 years later, Konoha's ninja academy.

Naruto was sitting in his class after passing the genin test. It was a day as any other. Everyone was talking to each other about how cool and famous they will be. Girls were talking about attracting boys… And stuff… Girls talk about. Naruto was sitting at the end of the classroom, near the window. Quietly writing in his notebook, where he kept all his puppet ideas and sketches.

During the years Naruto grew out his hair and now it fell on his eyes and covered his ears. He wore a short, gray kimono top with long loose sleeves. It was tucked into his black plain pants. He wore black combat boots that came up to his knees and he kept his kunai holster on his right leg. His right arm was taped up with bandages from the elbow down to his fingertips. On the back of his waist there was a small, brown bag which held his other stuff and scrolls. To finish it up Naruto tied his hitaite to his left bicep.

During the 7 years Naruto read through the book Kotarou gave him a couple of times. He improved his chakra control almost to perfection and he didn't slack in taijutsu training. Using the book he studied various poisons and seals, though his knowledge of seals was very limited for now and even to this day he hasn't figured out what the seal on the back of his head was. His puppetry improved by leaps and bounds after he could train with regular puppets, he also used the trap and weapon ideas from the book to create his own unique puppets. Naruto took advice Kotarou wrote in the book and started anonymously selling poison to the black market, that gave him a lot of freedom with money, so he moved to a different house and had no problem getting materials for his studies and training. Naruto's control over his emotions also improved but as he was still only 12 it was far from perfect or Kotarou's level of control, but he slowly understood the usefulness emotion control gives in practice.

Naruto's social life though didn't move an inch from where it was previously. No one dared to associate with him and he didn't bother talking to anyone else. There were people who thought they could bully him but slowly over time the number of people that actually had the ability to do so decreased until no one dared to try to harm him. Because of that, Naruto gained a reputation in Konoha for being hard to get along with.

Iruka, Naruto's class teacher, came into the classroom, where the kids were jumping around energetically. He took one look through the class with a smile on his face, then sighed with a face that said "Gonna miss this." "Alright brats, sit down and shut up!" He yelled with his infamous Big Head no jutsu. Everyone quickly sat down in their seats and looked at their teacher. He smiled, "Good, I already said my speech about how proud I am of you guys and what it means to be a ninja. There is nothing else I have to say. I will now announce the teams and your teachers. After I'm done everyone will wait here in class until your senseis' will come to pick you up. Now, team 1..."

Some time later

"Team 7: Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." Naruto looked up with a bored gaze and glanced at both of his teammates. His eyes met Iruka's for a second until he decided to go back to his small book, where he keeps his puppet ideas and sketches. He glanced down to his book and frowned a little, "Too unbalanced, won't work." He said barely above a whisper with a sigh and wrote in the top corner of his book, "Failure." He glanced around the classroom again until his eyes landed on a pink haired girl, "Sasuke's follower, theoretical knowledge is good, but ninja abilities are zero." He thought in his head. Then, he glanced towards a guy with black hair, "Ninja abilities are good, mostly aggressive close-combat type… Cocky." Naruto quietly sighed in annoyance, "What did the old man have in mind when he put together this group?" Naruto thought in his head as he looked through the window with a bored look on his face.

After all of the team were announce Iruka left the classroom and left the kids to talk for a while. As time went by team after team left the classroom together with their senseis. After an hour the only team left in the classroom was team 7. Sasuke was sitting in the front, Sakura was near him trying to get his attention and Naruto was in the back quietly thinking about various puppet ideas. He glanced up towards the clock, "What a waste of time." He quietly said. Naruto stood up and started walking towards the door. Sakura looked up, "Hey, uh, Naruto. We are supposed to wait for our sensei."

Naruto grabbed the door handle and started pulling the door to the side, "This is a waste of time. I'm not going to wait for somebody who doesn't have any interest in being here." Just as Naruto opened the door he saw a man standing on the other side. The man, wore the basic Konoha's ninja attire and had a black facemask covering his face up to his nose and his hitaite covered his left eye, "Sorry I'm late, I had some business elsewhere. Now, meet me on the roof in 5 minutes." With a lazy eye smile the jounin said and disappeared in a puff.

Naruto frowned but still followed his instructions and went to the roof. Sakura and Sasuke followed behind him.

On the roof

All 3 genin went to the roof and sat in front of their sensei. Sasuke kept ignoring his surroundings, Sakura kept sending him glances and Naruto continued writing in his book. Kakashi looked up from his own book, "Alright, let's start shall we. I guess we can begin with simple introductions. You, pinky, go." He said in a bored tone as he pointed his finger at Sakura, who frowned, "Why don't you begin, sensei. To show us an example."

Kakashi looked like he was considering the idea, "Fair enough. My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes and dislikes are none of you business and my hobbies… You are too young for that. My dreams for the future? Never thought about them."

Sakura and Sasuke sat the dumbfounded, Naruto completely ignored his introduction, "Ok, pinky, your turn." Sakura looked like she wanted to say something about the nickname he gave her but stayed quiet, "My name is Sakura Haruno. What I like, or rather, who I like is...*stupid squeal after looking at Sasuke*… My dislikes are arrogant people. My hobbies are...*squeal*… My dreams for the fut-" She turned red and stopped talking. Kakashi sat quietly processing the introduction then pointed his finger at Sasuke, "Your turn, broody."

Sasuke frowned at the comment, "Sasuke Uchiha, my likes and dislikes are none of your business and what I have is not a dream but an ambition, to restore my clan and to kill a certain someone." Kakashi sighed, "Alright, last one." He said as he looked at Naruto.

Naruto simply talked his part with no interest in his voice, "Naruto Uzumaki, no particular likes or dislikes… Or hobbies for that matter. My dream? For now, I just want to become strong. If possible, the strongest." Kakashi eye smiled at them, " _I have a fangirl, an avenger and… I don't even know how to call the last one._ " "I guess this will do. Now that we are done we will start your real genin test."

Sakura's eyes looked like they were about to pop out, "Genin test? Didn't we just pass it?", "What you passed was the official genin test. It's meant to separate those who have the ability to become shinobi from those who don't. Your real genin test, to see if you are good enough to become a part of the shinobi force of Konoha, will be conducted right now. So, I want all of you to head to training ground 7." He said and disappeared after he was done.

Training ground 7

Kakashi looked up from his book when the genin came into view. Everyone came up to Kakashi and looked at him, expecting an explanation. Kakashi cleared his throat, "Alright, lets start the test, shall we? Your test is simple, you have to take these bells from me before the alarm clock on that post rings. If you can do that, its your win, if you can't, you will be sent back to the academy. Oh, and if one of you doesn't get a bell, he will be sent back either way." Kakashi took out a pair of bells and tied them to his belt. Sakura tilted her head, "But there are only two bells." Kakashi eye smiled, "Well, you will figure something out. All you have to do is take these bells from me. Now… Get ready, set, go" He said with a bored tone.

Sasuke and Naruto immediately disappeared, Sakura looked around confused and also disappeared. Kakashi glanced around, "Well, it seems they listened in class." He said as he took out a small orange book and started reading.

Sasuke's POV

Sasuke was watching Kakashi from the trees, waiting for a chance. For some time there were no opportunities for Sasuke to strike. There was nothing but the sound of rustling leaves and birds in he clearing, but no matter what Sasuke didn't take his eyes off Kakashi even for a second. Sasuke's eyes widened a bit and in a flash he threw a couple of shuriken at Kakashi with a small shout "Chance"

As soon as the shuriken were about to hit Kakashi they passed through him. Sasuke's eyes widened, "A clone." Sasuke barely managed to jump back from the branch he was standing on as Kakashi landed on it with a rough kick, breaking it and landing on a branch below. Kakashi lazily looked at Sasuke, "Hmm, you have some good reflexes." Sasuke threw a couple more shuriken and dashed backwards.

Kakashi dodged them with no effort and disappeared. Sasuke turned around and brought his arms into an X, blocking another one of Kakashi's kicks, "If you only run away it will be boring, no?" Even though Sasuke blocked the attack it was still too much for him and he was blown back into a clearing. In the air he flipped and landed on the ground, Kakashi was already standing there, reading his book, " _Genin always show what they are truly capable_ _when they are backed into a corner, I guess I should have some fun_."

Kakashi raised his free hand and taunted Sasuke, who gritted his teeth in response and took a taijutsu stance, " _There is on way I can run from him, then I will beat him here_." Sasuke thought in his head. With a quick burst of speed Sasuke dashed towards Kakashi. When he was a few steps from him Sasuke jumped into the air and threw a couple of shuriken at Kakashi, " _Interesting, I guess I will play along, for now._ " Kakashi thought in his head and jumped back.

Sasuke quickly went through a couple of hand seals and put his arms to his mouth, " **Fire Release: Great Fireball** " Kakashi didn't even land as the big fireball made its way to him. In a second the fireball engulfed Kakashi and the area around him, burning everything. Sasuke landed on the ground and started looking around.

"For a genin to know such a jutsu, not bad. But, it won't be enough." Kakashi said from behind Sasuke, his eyes widened and he turned around with a punch. Kakashi blocked the punch with his forearm and kicked Sasuke in the gut, sending him tumbling on the floor. Sasuke finally got in a crouch after a few rolls and slid on the ground, after he stopped he quickly stood up and threw a couple of kunai at Kakashi.

Kakashi lazily extended his free hand and caught one kunai by the loop and used it to block the rest. He glanced up just as Sasuke was near him, charging him with all of his speed. Sasuke grabbed Kakashi's free hand roughly and pulled it to the side, then with a jump tried to land a knee in his face. Kakashi simply moved his head to the side and with the hand Sasuke grabbed, used his superior strength, grabbed Sasuke by his collar and smashed him into the ground.

Sasuke hit the ground and coughed a few times, but still didn't let go of Kakashi's arm, he quickly moved his legs around his arm and put all of his strength into breaking the arm. Kakashi's eye widened, "Ohh, I guess I shouldn't be so careless." Sasuke smirked, "Too late." He applied more force and the arm bent the other way. Kakashi stood there with a lazy, but surprised face and after a second did an eye smile.

But as soon as he did that Sasuke's eyes widened because Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Confused, Sasuke quickly got on his legs and took a few steps back. His eyes widened again when a hand emerged from the ground and caught him by his ankle and pulled him into the ground, only Sasuke's head remained above ground. After a few seconds Kakashi emerged from the ground, he turned around to Sasuke with an eye smile, "Well, as fun as it was, I can't spend all of my time here. I have other genin to test." Kakashi said and disappeared from the clearing.

Sakura's POV

" _Ohh, even Sasuke was defeated, what do I do_?" Sakura thought in her head as she watched the battle from the bushes near the clearing. She looked around and slowly got into a crouch, "First, I will rescue Sasuke." She quietly said and took another look around the clearing to make sure Kakashi was gone.

From behind Kakashi sighed, " _She is… I don't even know anymore. How can someone be so clueless_."Kakashi said in his head as he stood right behind Sakura, "I have to make sure sensei doesn't spot me, then I will rush in and get Sasuke out of the ground. Then, together we will take those bells." Sakura said quietly with determination in her eyes.

Kakashi eye smiled, "Well, I guess that's one thing you don't have to worry about." Sakura nodded her head, then froze. She slowly turned around and saw Kakashi standing there, "KYAAH." With a scream she jumped back. Quickly, she took out a kunai and took a stance.

Kakashi sighed again, " _That… Is supposed to be our next generation of ninja? Honestly, what did she expect? That I would come crashing through the woods,_ _knocking down every tree and shout like an idiot_?" Kakashi looked at Sakura with no motivation in his eyes, " _How do I even test her? Her academy records said her knowledge was good, but her combat potential…_ " Another sigh. Kakashi put his book away and started going through handseals.

The wind picked up and leaves started swirling around. Sakura put up her guard, then after a few moments she heard some rustling from the bush near her. She slowly turned around and screamed some intangible sentence when a massive, brown bear jumped out and charged at her at full speed. Sakura immediately turned around and ran out of the cover from the trees. When she ran out she immediately saw Sasuke's head, the bear didn't waste any time and jumped out of the trees and was about to maul her. She looked between Sasuke's head and the bear, eventually with another scream she passed out.

Kakashi stood there dumbfounded on the trees, "I… Was told…. That she was the best when it came to detecting and dispelling genjutsu." Another sigh, "Oh well, I guess I will go test the last one."

Naruto's location

Naruto was quietly sitting in the trees, with his book in his hand. Kakashi landed on the branch behind him. For a few minutes there was complete silence, only the birds and the sound of Kakashi flipping pages could be heard, " _He should have heard the sound from me flipping the pages now. Is he ignoring me_?"

"You know, its rude to ignore people when they come to you." Silence, "If you don't attack me then you will be sent back to the academy." Absolute silence, not even a motion that showed he was listening to Kakashi, " _What did I do to receive such a bunch of weirdos? An avenger, well I can make something out of him. The fangirl, I honestly doubt about her and then there is this. Completely ignoring the enemy._.."

Kakashi jumped and quickly closed the gap and with one smooth move kicked Naruto, sending him crashing through a branch, " _He won't die from just that, and I'm curious what the little troublemaker of Konoha can do._ " Naruto was laying on the branch, not a move from him. After a few seconds and not a sound came out from Naruto, Kakashi got a little worried he used too much strength. He jumped closer to inspect Naruto.

As soon as he bent down he moved Naruto's hair from his eyes, Kakashi's eyes widened. Glass eyes, a broken smile on his face, "What the hell? This I-" Kakashi was interrupted when he heard a strange sound coming from the corpse. He didn't have time to jump back because the Naruto started shinning and a massive explosion occurred. An explosion so big it broke several trees. Kakashi appeared on a branch with some small burns on his body, "That was without a doubt, puppetry. Right, Naruto?"

Kakashi glanced back and saw Naruto standing there with his hands in his pockets, one blue eye staring at him from behind his hair, "But, it was a mistake to reveal yourself." Kakashi was about to attack Naruto when another one landed some distance away, after that another few jumped down, until around 10 naruto's stood around Kakashi, their hands in their pockets, with bored gazes they looked at Kakashi, " _Those aren't clones, those are most likely the same puppets he used just now._ " Kakashi started looking around but he couldn't distinguish between them and he couldn't sense anybody around him, " _He hid himself very well. I take it back, this guy is good,_ _he_ _has a lot of potential._ " He thought inside his head.

Kakashi was looking between the puppets waiting for something to happen, but no matter how long he waited nothing happened, "You know, you are the one running out of time. If you don't attack me, you will fail this test." A bored sighed came from all directions, "I honestly don't care. I am only interested in winning against my opponents. I have as much time as I need." Kakashi's eyes widened, " _Don't care?_ " he repeated Naruto's words in his head, "I _s this a bluff? No, he sounded serious and in our introduction he said he was only interested in getting stronger. So, does he really not care? Is this a bluff or no?_ " Kakashi kept on asking the same question as he was looking around.

There were no movements from anyone, the puppets and Kakashi simply stared at each other. Kakashi looked at one of the puppet's eyes and was a little disturbed by the glassy, lifeless look it was giving him. It felt like staring at a corpse.

One by one the Naruto's raised one of their hands, with open palms towards Kakashi, who quickly put up his guard on maximum alert, " _The fact that only a few at a time raised their hands means that he can't control all ten puppets at the same time_." Kakashi was about to Kawarimi but to his surprise, nothing happened. They raised their hands and stood there, nothing else, " _This guy… He is trying to break me. So much psychological pressure, if it was a less experienced opponent it would have broken him_. _You always have to look over you shoulder, those raised hands, the fact that he is hidden so well, his lies are confusing, you even have to worry that no other puppet will attack you will you are standing here wasting time._ _Its taxing on the mind, my left eye is itching, I want to use my sharingan and end it._ " Kakashi was looking around without stop.

Suddenly, small hatches started opening up in each of the puppet's palms. Kakashi's experience reacted and he jumped into the air, nothing happened, no fire, gas, nothing, " _What the hell?_ " Kakashi landed on a branch, upside down. He heard a small sound coming from below him, well in this case above, from the other side of the branch. Another massive explosion sent Kakashi flying back down, he flipped in the air and landed in the circle again.

He started quickly looking around and waiting for the attack to come from the puppets, but even now, nothing came. Kakashi was looking around without stop, " _Damn this kid, no one told me he was so damn good at psychological warfare_." Kakashi was looking around and he noticed something, "Hey, is it just me, or did the circle get smaller?"Kakashi looked around trying to make sure if the puppets moved closer or not but he couldn't remember the branches they were previously on so he didn't know, " _Is he trying to come closer with all of those puppets and to explode them all at the same time? Or, is this the effect of his psychological pressure?_ "

A small rustle on the branch near him, Kakashi quickly turned around, the puppets were standing there without any evidence of movement, another rustle from behind, he turned around and saw that the same again. From all sides, one by one as he turned around as the sound was coming, " _Damn, I feel like I'm gonna lose my mind, who taught this kid?_ "

Naruto's POV

Naruto sat in the branches quietly looking at Kakashi, " _Black Hand special warfare tactics number 1, psychological warfare. Apply as much pressure as possible to the targets mind. In a group, if one target's mind breaks, panic will ensue. Due to pressure, enemy is easier to fool and it become easier to control his movements without him noticing it. The very first thing I read when I opened the chapters on battle techniques_." Naruto quietly thought in his head while watching Kakashi.

Kakashi's POV

Kakashi clenched his teeth behind the mask, "Enough." He said as he jumped in to the air, and went through some handseals, " **Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique**." A volley of fireballs flew towards the puppets, but as they hit the puppets on by one they started disappearing and reappearing some distance to the side. Kakashi's eyes widened, " **Genjutsu: Displacement** " One puppet jumped into the air and near Kakashi, it lit up and with a sound a massive explosion sent Kakashi crashing through the trees, after a few jumps Kakashi changed into a log.

Another puppet jumped and exploded near him, then another and another… A series of massive explosions sent tremors throughout the training ground. Kakashi started dashing through the tress and into a clearing. He jumped out from the trees, his flack jacket burnt in some places, covered in ashes and some blood coming out from different parts of his body, "Damn, this kid is seriously dangerous."

Another puppet jumped out from the trees, "This should be the last one." It jumped near Kakashi and exploded again, sending Kakashi sliding on the ground backwards. Kakashi didn't get to release a single breath when the ground around him started moving, wooden parts revealed themselves from the ground, chakra threads attached themselves to them and the wooden parts were pulled together, showing it to be an Iron Maiden, though this time it was a wooden one. The Maiden closed with a loud sound, small traces of blood came out from within.

Kakashi landed some distance away, he grabbed his shoulder and panted a little "Don't tell me this kid already predicted I would come into this clearing. Damn, so while I was messing with those other two he was making some serious preparations."

Kakashi noticed some seals on the Maiden, he saw a small pulse in the chakra threads attached to them, the seals activated and Kakashi looked down when he saw something shinning on him. The Maiden disappeared and with a cloud of smoke emerged from the seals on Kakashi, the chakra strings moved again and the Maiden closed itself with a loud sound again.

Kakashi emerged from the ground, even more blood on him. The seals started shinning on him again, he quickly took off his flack jacket and threw it to the side, The Maiden appearing around the jacket again and closing itself, shredding the jacket. Kakashi stood on the ground, panting, "Is this really a kid? Such advanced techniques." Kakashi looked carefully at the Maiden when he saw a different set of seals start shinning, the Maiden started slowly fading until it disappeared, "Camouflage? Where the hell did the kid learn such advanced seals?"

" _Copied, not learned._ " Naruto corrected in his mind, " _Its already obvious what he is thinking. But, as expected of a jounin, he isn't an easy target_."

Kakashi put up his guard, expecting for the maiden to appear again. The ground started moving again, massive spikes started emerging from the ground. Kakashi started jumping around in zigzags, "Damn, he is leading me. I have to break away." Kakashi jumped forward and barely dodged the spikes coming from the ground and quickly made his way through the ones that were already out of the ground.

Just when he thought he was in the clear another spike emerged, "What the hell? How many does he have?" Just then the ground started moving around behind Kakashi and a massive centipede emerged. Intent on cutting Kakashi in half with its massive jaw. Kakashi turned around and placed his one hand on its head and used all of his strength to vault over it, barely making past it.

Kakashi sighed from the side, " _Damn, this kid is making it hard for me not to go all out. But, it was the perfect opportunity to use the Maiden, so why didn't he?_ " Kakashi looked at the centipede and around it, " _It is already big, not to mention the parts that are still underground, most likely he can't use the centipede and the Maiden together_." Kakashi deduced as he was expecting another attack. Kakashi glanced at his waist and saw that the bells were still there, " _There were plenty of opportunities. Why didn't he try to take the bells?_ "

The centipede started moving again, it fully came out of the ground and started moving around Kakashi in circles. Kakashi was expecting it to lunge at him, but he was surprised again when it stopped and turned to Kakashi with all of its body, while Kakashi was still in the circle. Its legs started shooting out, with chains attached to them, "Shit." Kakashi started dodging the blades, as one passed him he saw it was coated in poison, his eyes widened when he coughed and felt a little sluggish, He barely dodged another blade, using the chains he started jumping out of the circle but, the centipede suddenly stopped moving and the Maiden appeared while Kakashi was in the air. It opened as if inviting Kakashi in, he took a look inside, "I knew it, even the spikes are covered in poison."Kakashi was about to do some handseals to disable the puppet, "You exposed it too early." Suddenly, the spikes shot out from inside the puppet. Kakashi did a Kawarimi just in time to dodge them.

Kakashi landed on the ground, panting, "Damn this is making it hard on my stamina." He looked at the puppets and saw that the maiden disappeared again and the centipede burrowed itself underground.

Kakashi's eyes widened when he sensed a presence behind him, a presence filled with malice and anger, "Don't tell me." He turned around and just like he guessed he saw Naruto standing there he saw Naruto moving his hand, he turned around and saw the Maiden doing something.

As soon as he turned around he felt a sharp pain in his back, "Wrong way." Kakashi turned around and saw a wooden tail coming from behind Naruto, it looked like a spiders leg more than a tail, made from a few segments, "Damn." The maiden from the distance shot a spike and nailed the bells to Naruto's second tail. The tail moved and Naruto pulled out the bells.

Kakashi pulled out the tail from his back and sighed, "Antidote." Naruto threw a vial to kakashi, who caught it and drank it all before passing it back to Naruto.

Some time later

Everyone was standing in a line and Kakashi was in front of them, a little dirty, bloody. Sakura and Sasuke were sending glances between Naruto and Kakashi, the obvious question hanging in the air. Kakashi sighed, "Alright, Naruto. You got the bells, so you get to choose who goes back to the academy." Sasuke and Sakura were both surprised and saw a red string coming from Naruto's hand.

A moment of silence, "Eh, Naruto?" Nothing, "Send both of them back." Both Sakura and Sasuke were surprised, "What?! Who do you think you are!" Sakura yelled from the side, "What a pain, both of them are useless. Sensei, you saw it yourself, I am good enough to be a one man team." Kakashi sighed, "Yes, you are… Cunning. But-" Naruto interrupted, "I'm not choosing any of them."

There was a silence in the air, "This kid surely knows how to destroy the mood." Kakashi sighed, "Alright, I guess this is it. All of you pass." He said with no energy. Sakura and Sasuke were both surprised and turned to Kakashi, "What? But we didn't get the bells and he didn't choose any of us." Sakura asked, Kakashi sighed again, "The whole point of this test was to make you understand the value of teamwork. I wouldn't have let you get the bells unless all of you worked together, but this enigma ruined my plan. I honestly underestimated him and didn't go all out, but because of that I lost the bells."Kakashi sighed again with no energy, "Whatever, all of you pass, go home."

Kakashi glanced at the alarm clock and saw that it had a spike in it. Kakashi quickly turned around and saw Naruto looking somewhere with a gaze that said 'nothing to do with me'. Kakashi took out a watch and saw that it was way past the time. Kakashi sighed, "Can't complain now."

Kakashi disappeared quickly, "Damn, the guys are not going to let me live this down. Going easy on a student isn't an excuse to lose." Kakashi sighed for what felt like a hundredth time this day, "Can my day get any worse?"

Chapter END

 **Hello everybody. Finally I have finished the rewrite. It took me a long time and in my opinion it came out a lot better than the original, though as I am the writer it is hard to say, so I will leave the judging to you. Anyway, I won't interrupt your reading here, at the end of chapter 8 there will be a small A/N. Please read it as I have some questions and I need your opinions. So, see you later.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Journey to Wave pt 1

Chapter 5: The Journey to Wave pt1

One month later, Hokage's office.

Team 7 and Sarutobi were standing in silence, only the sound of paper rustling was heard in the office. After a few minutes, Sarutobi put a stamp on a scroll and looked at the team, "Well, another mission well done. I must say, I am surprised. Team 7 has one of the best records in the village's history. Accomplishing each and every mission smoothly and efficiently. At this rate, we will run out of missions for the other genin teams." Sarutobi said with a small laugh. Sarutobi took a glance through the team, Kakashi and Naruto were in their own worlds, writing and reading their own books. Sasuke was standing in silence and Sakura was sending him glances and constantly looking away. The hokage sighed, " _Just how is this the best genin team we have?_ "

The Hokage sighed again, "Well, its been one month since you began these missions. You can now choose to undertake C- rank missions. So, what do you choose?" There was silence in the room for a minute until Kakashi cleared his throat, "Well, I think the kids are ready for a C-rank. If we keep taking D-rank missions the other teams won't have enough." While inside Kakahi's head, " _Damn, Icha Icha paradise's newest volume hasn't reached Konoha yet. Its a good opportunity for me._ " Sarutobi put on a knowing smile, "Right… Well then, please bring in Tazuna."

After a few minutes a drunk man came in through the door, "Finally. I thought I would never get back home." The man said as he took another sip from the bottle in his hand and took a look at Team 7, "What? These brats are supposed to protect me? The midget blonde looks like he can't even walk straight without someone holding his hand. Are you sure he shouldn't be in kindergarten?" The room immediately became silent, Hokage took a glance at Naruto and was relieved when he saw that Naruto was engrossed in his book, "Well, I assure you that this is the best genin team we currently have. They hold the best record in this generation and can compete with the best of the previous generations so you can relax, for a C-rank missions they will be more than enough, Tazuna." Tazuna looked doubtful but after another sip form his bottle he stayed quiet.

Sarutobi then turned to team 7, "Team 7, your job is to escort Tazuna back to his home in the Land of Waves." Kakashi after hearing out Sarutobi then turned to the team, "Alright then, go home and pack your things. We will meet up at the north gate in 20 minutes. Make sure to pack enough so it will last you for about a week, or maybe more." After those words everyone dispersed back to their homes.

Naruto's home

Naruto walked in through the door and took off his shoes. He quickly walked to his room and took a couple of storage seals and a bag, quickly sealed the necessities in the scrolls and threw them together into the bag. He then walked out of his room with his bag and walked to the basement, there, he took out a scroll with, "Centipede" Written on it and put it near another pile of scrolls, " _Black Hand_ _preparation_ _rules: Always have different puppets prepared for any situation_." Naruto glanced through the pile of scrolls, "Just what can I expect at the Land of Waves?" Naruto sighed and after a few minutes of considering various options he took a couple of scrolls and put them in his small pouch, on his back. Naruto frowned and slowly looked down at his bandaged right arm, "Is it starting? I doubt it… But it should be weakening." Naruto shook his head and walked back upstairs and walked out of the house.

North Gate

Everyone quickly assembled in 20 minutes. Kakashi took a quick glance at the team to see if they are really ready, with a quick nod, "Alright, it seems like preparations are done. All of you know the mission. So, without delay lets head out." Team 7 looked at each other and quickly got in positions around Tazuna and set out in their journey.

A few hours later

The team walked in a simple formation around Tazuna. Naruto was walking at the front, Sasuke and Sakura at the sides and Kakashi at the back. Sasuke and Naruto were more relaxed but still alert, while Sakura was constantly look around. Kakashi sighed, "Sakura, its good that you are alert, but if you constantly look around like that you will only tire yourself out." Sakura looked back at Kakashi, then to the front, "I'm a little nervous." Kakashi looked up from his book, "There is no reason to be nervous. The worst that will happen is that we will run into a bunch of bandits. The chances of facing off against other ninja during a C-rank are extremely low. You can relax a little, but be alert." Sakura looked at Naruto then at Sasuke and with a sigh, "Understood." Sakura then turned to Tazuna, "Umm, Tazuna. What is Wave like?"Tazuna looked at Sakura, "Well..." Both of them engaged in boring conversations.

As Sakura and Tazuna were talking in the background Naruto glanced up from his book and looked around, then he went back to his book. When Naruto was walking by he saw a puddle on the ground nearby, when he saw the puddle Naruto raised one eyebrow, but went back to his book.

Suddenly, after the group walked by the puddle a chain ensnared Kakashi and in a moment it ripped him to pieces, "One down." Two ninja, connected by one shuriken style chain and with an iron gauntlet on one hand, said in unison, "The girl looks weak, Gozu." Said one of the two, "I agree, Mezu." Responded the other.

Both ninja charged at Sakura with their gauntlets ready to shred her. Sasuke jumped into the air and threw one kunai at the chain, nailing it to the ground and a shuriken hit the kunai, pushing it more into the ground. But the attack didn't stop the two ninjas as they quickly released their chains and one attacked Sasuke, while the other jumped over and attacked Naruto, "I won't give you time to prepare."

Sasuke's POV

As soon as Mezu charged Sasuke, he took out one kunai and blocked the gauntlet. He pushed away the gauntlet and tried to kick Mezu in the ribs, however the experienced ninja jumped back just in time. Sasuke exhaled a breath and dropped his bag to the floor, then took a stance with one kunai in his hand.

Mezu started laughing, "What? Don't tell me you are going to fight me. Sorry, kid, but you are outclassed." Sasuke frowned, "We'll see about that." And quickly charged forward. Sasuke tried to swipe with his kunai but Mezu immediately blocked it with his gauntlet, then he tried to kick Sasuke in the gut. Sasuke took one step back and jumped over the leg, but Mezu didn't stop and with a spin unleashed another kick at Sasuke, knocking him away.

Sasuke landed on his feet, but was forced to quickly block again as Mezu dashed at him and swiped with his gauntlet. After the strike was blocked Mezu reared back his free hand and tried to punch Sasuke, who ducked over the strike and unleashed a furious flurry of punches at Mezu's exposed abdomen. After letting some hits through Mezu jumped back, his eyes screaming bloody murder, "Kid, I was going to go easy on you, but you are making this difficult. You can only blame yourself for what is about to happen." Mezu went through some handseals, " **Water Release: Water Bullet** "

Sasuke jumped to the side to avoid the attack, but Mezu quickly closed the distance and started swiping at Sasuke, who barely blocked the attacks with his kunai. With another powerful swipe Mezu knocked the kunai out of Sasuke's hands and kicked him in the gut, sending him flying into the forest. Sasuke quickly got up on his feet, a laugh sounded all around him, "You're pathetic. You seriously hope to beat me with such feeble strength?" Sasuke's eyes widened when he felt someone's presence behind him.

He took out two kunai's and turned around, with both kunai barely blocking the attack, the sharp blades of the gauntlet stopping right in front of Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke gritted his teeth and moved his hands to the side, knocking Mezu's gaunlet to the side, with a spin Sasuke kicked Mezu in the gut, making him take a few steps back. Sasuke dashed at Mezu with his full speed and stabbed his two kunai in his stomach. Sasuke took a couple of deep breaths while stepping back, to his surprise the Mezu in front of him quickly turned to water and fell to the ground in a puddle.

Mezu appeared behind Sasuke again, " **Water Release: Water clone.** You are too naive, brat." Mezu slashed at Sasuke, his gauntlet started ripping through his clothes, but just when he thought he won, Sasuke disappeared and appeared on a branch above, "I had to deal with that strategy so much that I almost puked blood. You can't surprise me with such a weak plan." Mezu's anger rose, "You damn brat!" He yelled.

Sasuke took out a couple of shuriken and quickly threw them at Mezu, who started dodging the shuriken and laughing, "Give up, brat. With tricks like these you won't defeat me." Mezu's eyes widened when he tried to move but he couldn't. He looked to the side and saw a small glint reflecting off a small wire. Sasuke smirked from above, "Then how about this?" He went through a couple of handseals, " **Fire Release:** **Great** **Fireball** " He sent out a big fireball at the restricted Mezu, the fireball engulfed him in a few seconds and an explosion cleared out the trees around him.

Sasuke jumped down from the trees back to the road, "Sasuke!" Sakura yelled when she ran up to him, she wanted to check if he was fine, but a small laugh froze both of them in place, "Well, well, I guess you do have some tricks up your sleeve, brat." Sasuke glanced at the explosion site again, his eyes widened when he saw that the area where Mezu was, was slightly damp, "It seems like you figured it out. Well, doesn't matter. See you in hell, brat." Sasuke could only watch as the iron gauntlet approached him. Sasuke closed his eyes, preparing for the pain, but… Suddenly, the gauntlet stopped and a few choking sounds could be heard. Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and saw Kakashi standing there and Mezu, passed out in a headlock, "Hey there." He said with an eye smile.

Sakura frowned, "Sensei! What are you doing? Why didn't you show up quicker? We could have been killed!" She yelled loudly, "Calm down, there is no I way would have let him kill you. Besides, this was a good opportunity to see how you would handle a real combat situation. Now Sasuke knows where he lacks and where he should improve. So, lets go save our final comrade, shall we?" Kakashi said with an eye smile.

Naruto's POV

As soon as Gozu charged Naruto, he quickly took out a small knife from his sleeve and blocked the attack, sliding back from the powerful hit, " _Black Hand mission rule 1: Always act under the assumption that your enemy is watching you and will attack_." Naruto repeated in his head with a bored voice, looking at Gozu with bored, yet sharp eyes, "Hmmm, you don't look surprised. For a brat, your reflexes are sharp." Naruto's eyes narrowed, slowly seals lit up on the knife and a small current of electricity started running through the blade.

Naruto pushed the gauntlet to the side while Gozu was surprised, he changed to a reverse grip with the knife, quickly slashing at the exposed abdomen, but Mezu quickly jumped back. He wanted to say something but then he felt some sort of liquid drop on his feet he looked down and saw a small tear in his clothes and a small amount of blood gathering up on the torn clothes, " _Strange, why don't I feel any pain?_ " Mezu's eyes widened, " _Don't tell me, that electricity is meant to numb you._ "

Just as he understood that, Naruto charged again and started slashing at Gozu, he blocked what he could with his gauntlet and dodged the rest of the attacks. Gozu took one step back and took off his cloak and threw it at Naruto, blinding him. He disappeared and appeared behind Naruto, with a quick attack from behind Gozu pierced Naruto's back, but his eyes widened when he saw something wrong. Instead of blood, small wooden chunks started dropping from the wound, suddenly Gozu heard a strange sound and a second latter Naruto lit up and exploded, sending Gozu sliding on the ground. He quickly stopped himself and got into a crouch.

With sharp eyes Gozu was looking around, left and right, but he froze when he felt a really strong presence behind him. Gozu quickly jumped back while turning around, he saw Naruto standing there, his eyes glaring holes at Gozu, suddenly the air around him started twisting and distorting. In a second, wooden parts appeared all around Gozu, he looked at Naruto, who in one hand held a bloody knife and the other hand was extended, the fingers on that arm moved, and the wooden parts around him quickly formed an Iron Maiden, though it was wooden.

With one final movements from the finger the maiden closed itself with Gozu inside. Small amounts of blood started leaking through the gaps in the puppet, Naruto looked behind him just as Gozu appeared there, his clothes torn and bloody. Symbols appeared on Gozu's clothes and the maiden appeared all around him again. He quickly jumped forward and dashed at Naruto, but he heard some strange sounds from behind, then a sharp pain in his back.

Gozu jumped to the side and quickly glanced at the Maiden, his eyes widened when he saw that there were no spikes in her. Gozu's view started twisting and distorting, he felt like he was about to vomit, but his reflexes kicked in when he sensed Naruto in front of him. Naruto changed the knifes grip in to a forward one and tried to behead Gozu, but he ducked the attack and tried to punch Naruto, who sidestepped the attack while changing the grip back in to a reverse one and tried to stab Gozu in the extended arm.

Gozu gritted his teeth and grabbed Naruto's arm with his free arm, Naruto immediately grabbed the hand with the gauntlet and pushed it away from himself. A power struggle began, though even while poisoned and injured Gozu didn't lose to Naruto. Gozu's hand with the gauntlet, neared Naruto's stomach. One iron and sharp finger started stabbing Naruto, who gritted his teeth and used all the strength he could gather to kick Gozu in the shin, though the kick wasn't effective.

Naruto felt the iron finger start tearing a small hole in his clothes, he raised his leg again and kicked Gozu in the lower abdomen, but there was no reaction, " _Shit, I forgot that place is numb from the knife wound._ " Naruto cursed in his head. Suddenly, a hand appeared and started choking Gozu from behind, revealing it to be Kakashi, standing there with an eye smile, "Yo." The grip on Naruto's hand loosened and he took a few steps back, while panting.

"Now then, rest up and leave everything else to me."

Some time later

After Kakashi tied up Gozu and Mezu he interrogated them and found out that they were after Tazuna. Kakashi then interrogated Tazuna and found out that Wave was under control by a merciless drug lord named Gato. After a few minutes of discussions between the team members they decided that they will continue with the mission and they set out again towards Wave.

A couple of days later, Land of Waves.

Team 7 made their way to the land of waves without any further encounters. Though after arriving they were surrounded by a thick mist. For a few hours they were walking through the mist in silence, all of them vigilant, expecting for an attack to come at any second.

"Stop." Kakashi called out after some a while of walking, "Is something wrong?" Sakura asked with fear in her voice. Kakashi was silent and for a while there was nothing, but then Kakashi's eyes widened, "Everyone, down on the ground!" he yelled and pushed down Sakura and Tazuna to the ground, Sasuke and Naruto followed Kakashi's orders and ducked just in time as a massive blade flew through the space where their heads were.

"Well, well, look who we have here. Copy cat Kakashi, its an honor." Kakashi stood up and looked at the man, standing on the massive blade stuck in the tree. After a few seconds Kakashi's eyes narrowed, "Momochi Zabuza." Zabuza let out a laugh, "So you know of me. Well, I won't beat around the brush, hand over the old man and I will let you and your cute little students go." After hearing that team 7 got in a circle around Tazuna, Kakashi looked back, then at Zabuza, "Sorry, but today he is our client. It would reflect badly on us if he were to be killed."

Zabuza started laughing, "So be it, don't regret it later." He said as he took out the massive blade and jumped on top of a lake, " **Silent Killing Technique** " The mist in the area thickened until team 7 could barely see. Kakashi after looking around quickly brought his hands to his hitaite and lifted it up from his eyes, revealing a red sharingan with three tomoe. Sasuke's eyes widened and he looked like he wanted to say something but Kakashi interrupted him, "I know, we will talk later, Sasuke."

Sasuke understood the predicament they were in and nodded. Sasuke and Sakura took out a kunai and took their stances, Naruto prepared a scroll in one hand and the knife in the other. After a few minutes the silence started getting to the less experienced ninja as they were looking around left and right feverishly. Naruto started to sweat, " _So this is how a pro uses psychological warfare, its terrifying_." Naruto thought in his head as he tried to look through the mist that was laced with Zabuza's killing intent.

After a few minutes of silence the team felt a presence behind them, followed by a laugh, "You fail." Zabuza said as he started swinging his sword. In a second Kakashi charged him and stabbed Zabuza with a kunai, to his surprise the Zabuza in front of him turned to water. Kakashi felt a sharp pain in his back as he was stabbed by Zabuza, but to his surprise Kakashi also turned in to a puddle and another one appeared behind Zabuza and put a kunai at his throat, "You lose." Kakashi said quietly.

Zabuza laughed, "Touche." Two Zabuzas landed around them and quickly went through handseals. Kakashi wanted to jump back but to his surprise the Zabuza in front of him grabbed his hand and didn't let go. In a second the Zabuzas were done with the handseals, " **Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet** " From the two puddles two water dragons rose and charged Zabuza and Kakashi, combining into one massive dragon and slamming into both of them, carrying them into the lake. The two clones disappeared after the jutsu.

Kakashi rose to the surface with a deep breath, " **Water Release: Water Prison** " The water around Kakashi rose along with him and quickly created a bubble around him, trapping him. Zabuza started laughing, "How the mighty have fallen. To be fooled by such a petty trick, you really disappoint me, Kakashi. Now, for your stupidity you will get to see how I slaughter your students." He said as he created a clone and sent it towards team 7, "Guys, take Tazuna and run. Zabuza's clones can't get far away from his real body." Kakashi yelled from inside the bubble, "Whats the point, stupid. If we leave you here he will kill you and chase us." Naruto said. Zabuza smirked, "Good job, kid. You are making it easier for me."

As the clone neared team 7, Naruto quickly unrolled his scroll and a pop resounded in the clearing. When the smoke cleared it revealed another human figure near Naruto. Spiky black hair combed backwards and a big black cloak with black fur on the collar, the cloak looked like its made out of something weird, "Crow King."

Zabuza whistled from the side, "A puppeteer from Konoha. I guess you see something new every day. But… A wooden doll won't help you against me." He said as he charged at Naruto, who attached the strings to the puppet. A black katana dropped into the puppet's hand from within the cloak and it blocked Zabuza's punch.

The black cloak started moving and a lot of spikes came out of it and started shooting at Zabuza with great speed and quantity. Zabuza started dodging the spikes left and right but a few of them landed in their marks. Zabuza's clone disappeared in a puddle of water. The real Zabuza laughed from the side, "Not bad, you have some interesting students. I'm starting to like the blond one. But it won't be enough." A couple clones rose from the water and started walking towards team 7.

The clones dispersed, one attacked Sasuke, while the other two attacked Naruto. As the two clones neared Naruto, Crow King charged and met one of them in the middle, the other Zabuza stepped to the side and continued his charge, but two Narutos landed in front of him, their hands in their pockets and bored looks on their faces, " _Clones? No, puppets. But they look real. Which is it?_ " The clone started thinking in his head.

Crow flew a few steps back and charged again with a horizontal slash. Zabuza jumped over it and took out his blade, trying to slice the puppet, but its cloak started moving again and started shooting out spikes. Zabuza brought out his sword like a shield but the power was too much and because he was in the air it knocked him back. Crow flew forward again and started furiously slashing at Zabuza, who couldn't regain his stance so he could only block the attacks.

The other Zabuza clone decided to charge in through the two Narutos. He punched one in the face and it disappeared with a pop, "Shadow clone?" He turned and kicked the other one in the gut, it also disappeared with a pop. But then, Naruto's started appearing and attacking Zabuza one after the other. Among the Naruto's there were normal illusion clones, shadow clones and what Zabuza didn't know, puppets. After he kicked away another one, one Naruto latched on to Zabuza's leg, "Hehe, do you intend to stop me like that?" The naruto started releasing a strange sound and after a second he lit up and blew up, destroying the clone.

Zabuza blocked another attack from Crow, but when he tried to counter attack the spikes started shooting again, making Zabuza fall back, "Out of range." Naruto said. Zabuza raised one eyebrow and then he saw Crow's cloak starting to move, two massive wings appeared on its back. Small crows started shooting out from inside the cloak.

Zabuza's eyes widened and he prepared a stance. Naruto took control of the crows and they started circling around Zabuza and shooting out senbon from all directions, Zabuza could barely block all of them, then one of the crows started flying directly at Zabuza, he couldn't defend from behind. The crow released a strange sound and after a second it exploded right in Zabuza's face. After the explosion the crows returned back into the cloak.

The real Zabuza frowned in the distance, "Its starting to get annoying." He raised even more clones from the water. Without delay the clones charged at Naruto, but when they got to the shore they were surprised when a lot of Naruto's jumped out from the trees. All of the clones prepared their swords and charged Naruto's clones. They started hacking and slashing their way through, sounds of popping started resounding in the clearing. Illusion clones disappearing left and right after they've done their job, shadow clones disappearing after they've been cut in half and Puppets being torn apart and giving out weak explosions and on top of it Crow shooting spikes at the clones. Getting caught up in explosions, being impaled by the spikes or dispelled by a punch from a clone, Zabuza's clones started reducing in number.

Zabuza frowned even more and raised even more clones and sent them out. The shore was one giant mess from the short massacre, finally through the smoke and the clones one Zabuza broke through and with a dash closed the distance between Naruto and him, with a quick move it landed a kick and sent Naruto flying. One of the clones took control of Crow and tried to defend the real body but another Zabuza broke through and engaged in the fight against Crow.

A knife dropped from Naruto's sleeve and he charged Zabuza, who blocked the knife with his sword. Naruto changed his grip into a reverse one and started slashing at Zabuza who easily blocked the attacks. After a moment Zabuza sidestepped an attack and kicked Naruto in the gut again, lifting him off his feet. "After all you've put me through. Don't expect an easy end, brat." Zabuza said as he reared back his fist and punched Naruto in the face, sending him rolling on the ground.

Naruto got on his hands and before he could stand up, Zabuza walked in front of him and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying and crashing in to a tree. Naruto started coughing up blood from his mouth, using his sleeve he wiped it off and using the tree as support he started standing up. Zabuza smirked, "You are pathetic. You are clearly outclassed so whats the point in struggling? You are only making your suffering longer."

Naruto grabbed the knife from the ground and charged Zabuza again, who sidestepped the attack and grabbed Naruto by his hair, with a quick move he kicked Naruto in the face with his knee, then threw him up slightly in to the air and with the back of his sword hit Naruto, sending him crashing into and through a tree. Naruto started coughing blood again and planted his arms on the ground trying to push himself off the ground.

Zabuza walked near Naruto again and with a powerful kick, broke Naruto's left arm and sent him rolling on the ground again, "So, is this all you are capable of? Without your dolls you are nothing but trash. A weakling." He walked up to Naruto again and picked him up by his throat and slammed him in to the nearest tree, "Pathetic, you Konoha ninja are so weak and stupid it makes me want to puke."

"Gah!" Naruto weakly looked at the battle behind Zabuza and saw another Zabuza's clone beating up Sasuke. The explosions had stopped and only three Zabuza's clones remained, but it was obvious that Crow wouldn't hold on for any longer as it was already badly damaged. Zabuza looked down near his feet and smirked. He let go of Naruto but before he could fall to the ground he kicked him in the stomach again, "Gah" Blood came out of Naruto's mouth again as he fell to the ground. Zabuza put his sword on his back and picked up one black spike from the ground, "Brat, do you know how much these hurt? Well, I guess you should find out." He said as he stabbed the black spike into Naruto's shoulder and nailed him into the tree behind him, "GAH!" Naruto screamed again and started coughing up blood.

Zabuza was smirking while looking at Naruto, "Look at you. A bloody mess, you had to fight me because your sensei was stupid and weak. Because he fell into my trap so easily you three genin had to fight against me, an experienced jounin who won't hesitate to kill you. Tell me, do you hate your sensei?" Naruto looked up weakly but with a glare from behind his hair. He said nothing, simply kept glaring at Zabuza while panting and sometimes coughing up blood. Zabuza smirked, "Well, I may be a cold blooded murderer, but I don't enjoy torturing my prey. So, let me put an end to your misery, you can blame no one but your weak self and your stupid sensei." Zabuza said as he raised his sword.

Zabuza's eye widened when a blade came through his stomach, water started pouring out and he looked back slowly. He saw Sasuke glaring at him, the Zabuza who was his opponent grabbed Sasuke by his hair and smashed his knee into his stomach, then slammed his head to the ground.

Naruto coughed up more blood, he weakly raised his head and glanced around the battle field. He saw that none of his clones remained, Sasuke was a bloody mess on the ground, Crow was cut in half, one of Zabuza's clone was about to kill Sasuke while the other one was slowly walking towards a shaking Sakura. Weakly, Naruto raised one hand and attached a sloppy chakra thread to crow's upped half. A couple of miniature crows shot out towards the real Zabuza, whose eyes widened when he saw the small birds approaching him. The crows stared lighting up and when they were near him they exploded, making Zabuza jump back and release the water prison. Due to loss of Zabuza's concentration the clones disappeared in the back.

Zabuza was about to charge in again but he stopped when he felt a glare with massive killing intent following it. Kakashi stood back up on the water, "You!" He said in a dangerously low tone. Zabuza smirked, "Are you angry? I told you, don't regret you choice. You should have handed me the bridge builder when you had the chance. Now, I will finish you off and then the brats." Zabuza yelled and charged forward.

Kakashi charged forward and sidestepped one attack, ducked under another and grabbed Zabuza hands before the third came, "I will make you pay for hurting my students." Kakashi said in a low tone. He kicked Zabuza in the gut with his knee and without letting go of his hands instantly broke one wrist, "Gah!" Zabuza jumped back, Kakashi instantly appeared before him and punched him in the face, sending him flying like a stone across the surface of the water.

Zabuza swam buck up to the surface again, then he heard a voice, " **Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet** " A massive water dragon rose and with a charge smashed into Zabuza and sent him to the bottom of the lake. After a few seconds Zabuza rose to the surface again, he gasped for air, but he felt a tight grip on his neck. Kakashi raised him out of the water and started strangling him with one hand. Zabuza gritted his teeth and kicked Kakashi in the gut, to his surprise this Kakashi disappeared in a small cloud of smoke. Another Kakashi from behind said in a low voice, " **Water Release: Great Waterfall** " A massive tornado of water started forming around Kakashi and charged forward to Zabuza, smashing into him and carrying him with it, destroying everything in its path.

Kakashi started slowly walking towards Zabuza's limp body, "Your end is here, Zabuza." Kakashi said as he took out a kunai, he stopped when a couple of senbon hit Zabuza in the neck. A ninja with a mask appeared in front of Kakashi, "Hello, Konoha nin. Thank you for weakening Zabuza for me. I have been following him for a long time now, but I didn't have the chance to strike. Kirigakure will remember your aid." The ninja said as he bowed to Kakashi, then went to pick up Zabuza and disappeared in a swirl of water.

"SENSEI!" Kakashi heard a scream from behind him, his eyes widened and he quickly dashed back to team 7. When he arrived his eyes widened from what he saw, Sakura was standing there shaking like a leaf, tears forming in her eyes, Sasuke was lying on the ground, bloody and without making any moves. Some distance away Naruto was near a tree, bloody and coughing up blood from time to time, a spike nailing him to a tree and his left arm broken, he didn't look conscious. Kakashi looked down, "Damnit! It happened again." Kakashi thought in his head.

"Sensei." Kakashi looked at Sakura, then he lowered his hitaite and sighed, "Lets bring them back for treatment." Tazuna walked to the front, "My house is nearby, if we hurry we will arrive there shortly." When Tazuna saw Kakashi walking unsteadily on his feet he said, "Let me help you carry them. It is the least I could do because this situation is my fault." Kakashi didn't look like he heard him he just silently walked towards his students with unsteady feet and panting, he slowly and carefully picked up Sasuke on his back and walked towards Naruto. After carefully removing the spike he let Tazuna pick Naruto up and everyone started walking towards Tazuna's home.

Chapter END

 **I will say only one thing. I don't bother with character descriptions because I think that all of you know them very well. I think that would just be a waste of time, so instead you can continue enjoying the story more. If you don't know how the characters look, google it. All the characters look the same as they do in the original story (Except Naruto)**


	6. Chapter 6: The Journey to Wave end

Chapter 6: The Journey to Wave end.

2 Days later, Tazuna's home.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He saw that he was in someone's house and that he was bandaged, "So… I guess we won, huh?" Naruto said as he sat up and put his feet on the ground. He looked at his bandaged left arm and tried to move it but it caused him too much pain. Naruto sighed as he recalled the fight, Zabuza's words kept repeating in his head, "Y _ou are pathetic. You can only blame your weak self. Without your dolls you are nothing._ " Naruto gripped his head, "Damnit, why isn't it ever enough? Why am I always so weak?" Naruto gritted his teeth.

Naruto stood up and walked to the window to look outside, he looked at his cast on his left arm and scowled, "Nuisance." he tore off the cast and started changing his clothes. He walked out the door and was passing by a mirror, he looked at it and saw his reflection, bandaged almost like a mummy, Naruto frowned again.

Naruto walked downstairs and saw everyone except Sasuke sitting at the tabble. Sakura looked up when she heard footsteps and her jaw almost hit the floor, "N-Naruto! You should be in bed!" She yelled. Naruto ignored her and walked past her to sit down, "I don't need it." Sakura's eyes widened, "Don't need it? Do you realize how bad you were hurt? You could have died! We were lucky to survive." Sakura yelled again. Naruto looked back with a small glare, "No thanks to you." Sakura jumped back. Kakashi cleared his throat, "Calm down, you two. All that matters is that we are all alive." Tazuna's daughter Tsunami came into the room, "Breakfast is ready, I'll set up the table immediately." Kakashi eye smiled, "Thank you." Then he turned to Naruto, "How are you feeling?"

Naruto walked past Kakashi and towards the exit, quietly, barely above a whisper Naruto answered, "Pathetic, weak." Kakashi looked at Sakura then back at Naruto, "Could you repeat that?" "...I'm fine." Naruto said as he put on his shoes and started walking out. Sakura wanted to stop him but Kakashi raised his hand, "I think he needs some time alone."

In the town.

Naruto was walking through the town, his hand in his pockets, his head down, " _Why is it never enough? Just how come they are stronger than me? What am I lacking?_ " He thought as someone bumped into him, Naruto immediately grabbed the hand of the other kid who bumped into him. Without turning around Naruto said quietly "Give it back, or I take your hands off of you." The kid's eyes widened, "Alright, Alright, just let me go." He threw Naruto's scroll back to him and ran off.

"KYAA" Naruto turned around when he heard a small scream. He saw a group of bandits surrounding a small girl, probably younger than him by a year or two, "Kuku, I heard that young girls are a popular demand nowadays." One of the bandits said. The others laughed around him, "Well, you are one to talk, you freaking pervert." The group started laughing as the girl screamed for them to let go. Naruto glanced around and saw that everyone was looking away, desperately trying not to attract attention to themselves.

Naruto then looked down at his right hand as he clenched and unclenched his fist. Naruto looked up and glared at the group, while slowly following them into an empty building. Naruto looked at the thugs who were taking off their pants, one of the thugs spotted him, "Hey, kid. What the hell do you want? This is adult business. Shoo, Shoo." Naruto's anger boiled as his eyes turned purple, the back of his neck emitted a faint purple light, the corner of his eyes turned down and a knife appeared from his sleeve. Using his legs Naruto kicked the door and closed it.

Without a word Naruto slowly approached them, one of the bandits sighed, "So, brat. Which are you? Did you come for revenge? Out of sense of justice? Looking for death? Well, doesn't matter. Because today you will die." He said as he picked up his sword and charged Naruto.

Naruto simply sidestepped the sloppy attack and quickly stabbed the knife into the bandit's stomach. He pulled it out and changed into a reverse grip, then stabbed the bandit in the leg. With a scream the bandit fell to the ground. Naruto pulled the knife out again and stabbed him in the shoulder, repeating the process, stabbing in non-lethal places until the bandit fainted, " _Pathetic, not even worth to get their blood on my hands_."

Naruto turned around to the rest all bloody and slowly walked towards the rest, he glanced at the girl who was already knocked out, brown hair that fell just below her shoulders and a pretty face. It was obvious the girl will turn into a beauty in a few years. Naruto glanced back at the bandits as he neared them, "Wait...Stop...GAH" Screams could be heard from the house for the next few minutes, then it settled down.

Naruto wiped the blood off with a rag he found, " _I won… The fact that I defeated them it means I'm not weak, right?_ "Zabuza's words came back haunting him, "Just… What does being strong means?" he looked back when he heard some groans and movement, the girl jumped up when she opened her eyes, she immediately saw Naruto standing above a pile of unconscious bodies. The girl's eyes widened, "Did… Did you do that?" Naruto ignored the girl and walked past her, "Ahh, wait a second." Naruto walked out of the building and continued with his walk. The girl walked out of the building and simply stared at Naruto, "Who?" The girl picked up her things and walked back home.

After a few hours

Naruto came back to Tazuna's home, after his walk. During his walk he encountered a few groups of bandits but they were weak so Naruto disposed of them quickly. Naruto opened the front door walked in and took off his shoes, just as he walked into the living room Tsunami spotted him, "Ah, hello. I am Tazuna's daugher, Tsunami. You must be hungry, hold on I will prepare a meal for you." Naruto simply stared at her as she walked to the kitchen.

Naruto looked to the side when he heard footsteps coming down from the stairs and Kakashi walked out, "Yo." Naruto walked by Kakashi and sat down on a couch. Kakashi sighed and sat down on the opposite side of Naruto, "You know, you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. Our opponent was a very dangerous and skilled ninja. In the bingo books he is listed as A-rank. If both of us fought one on one from the beginning even I wouldn't come out of the battle unscathed. Anyways, whats on your mind? If you talk about it, it will become easier. " Naruto sat in silence for a few moments then he shook his head, "Nothing." Kakashi sighed, "Alright."

Next day

Naruto walked downstairs and saw everyone except Sasuke sitting near the table, Kakashi turned around with his eye smile, "Good morning. Sit down, Naruto. I think its time to talk about what we will do with the mission." Naruto nodded his head and sat down on an empty chair and started eating when Tsunami put a plate in front of him, "So, I can finally continue with my bridge?" Kakashi nodded his head, "Yes, but only for a short amount of time." Tazuna raised one eyebrow, "I let them go because I was exhausted after the fight, but Zabuza is most likely still alive." Sakura's eyes widened and she looked at Kakashi, "But that masked ninja killed him."

Kakashi nodded his head, "That ninja is probably Zabuza's accomplice. Senbon needles aren't the type of weapon you would use to kill someone, although it is possible. My guess is that ninja put Zabuza in a temporary death state." Tazuna frowned, "So that Zabuza guy will come back?" Kakashi nodded his head again, "Yes, and this time, he will be prepared for us. But it will take time for him to heal his injuries and to recover from the death state. My guess is that we have somewhere around 10days. Zabuza won't wait until he is fully healed, he will attack as soon as he thinks that he can take me out and I bet he will bring his accomplice along." Sakura gulped, "But, last time… That happened and he was alone. This time if he brings his accomplice..."

Kakashi sighed, "That's why we have to make preparations of our own, Sakura. There isn't a lot you can do in 10 days but it is possible to become stronger, just a little, to give us a better chance and this time, we will be expecting him." Naruto's eyes widened when Kakashi said the word 'Stronger' his eyes narrowed and he continued with his meal.

"So, we will be splitting up our duties. Naruto, today you will be escorting Tazuna to and from the bridge. Meanwhile, I will train with Sakura. Tomorrow, we will switch up." Sakura nodded her head, Naruto kept quiet from the side.

An hour later

Naruto and Tazuna walked to the bridge and there everyone resumed the construction. Naruto jumped on the roof of a small building and took out two scrolls. From one he unsealed the broken Crow King from the other, materials and tools, "Its a good thing no idiots decided to take Crow for scraps." He started working on Crow's repairs while keeping an eye out for any threats.

A few hours later

Naruto heard some yells from the side, so he glanced up from Crow King to look and saw the girl he previously saved running on the bridge with a small box in her hands, "Father, I brought your lunch." Tazuna glanced to the sky and then yelled, "Alright, lunch break." Naruto looked back down at Crow and continued with the repairs, he heard footsteps coming towards him, "Ah! You are the guy that saved me back then." Naruto looked down from the roof at the smiling girl, "Hold on a second." She ran around the building and after a while with difficulty climbed up and sat down near Naruto, "My name is Miyori, thank you for saving me back there." She said with a big smile.

After she got no response she decided to continue, "A-Anyway, would you like some?" She asked as she extended a couple of rice balls towards Naruto, who looked back at them and shook his head, "This is as a thanks, you must be hungry after sitting here." She came closer and extended the rice balls again. Naruto looked to the side and sighed, "If I take one will you leave me alone?" Mayuri grinned, "I'll think about it." Naruto sighed again, took one rice ball and started eating it.

There was silence for a while, "You know, we villagers are weak. When Gato came we could do nothing but stand and watch as he did what he wanted with our land. I think, you ninjas are cool. You train hard everyday and fight bad people, rescuing others. I… Wouldn't be able to do that. That's why, this is all I can really do to thank you. Our village is poor because of Gato and we don't really have anything here. But, if its something simple like bringing you lunch, to keep you energized… Please continue to protect our village for a while longer." Mayuri said as she looked like she wanted to cry.

Naruto sighed from the side, "Our missions is to protect Tazuna." Mayuri looked down, "So, the thugs in the village are a threat to him... I have no choice but to deal with them. We have to protect Tazuna until this bridge is done. Until then..." Mayuri smiled, "Thank you." and extended another rice ball, "Here." Naruto took another one and started eating, "By the way, what is your name?" Naruto sat in silence for a moment, "Naruto… Uzumaki Naruto." Mayuri smiled again, "Nice to meet you, Naruto."

That is how the days went by for a while, Naruto and Sakura switching guard duties and training, though Naruto only needed Kakashi as a training dummy, to test out Crow King. On his guard shift Mayuri would always come by and she would start talking about anything she could think of, Naruto answered her questions and told him a little about himself.

After a couple of days Sasuke also woke up and started moving around. After he was healthy enough to train Kakashi shifted all of his focus from Naruto to Sasuke, since he couldn't really help Naruto with anything.

9 days later

Naruto and Mayuri sat on the roof in silence, Crow was already fixed and Naruto upgraded him to the best he could with his current tools. Naruto did the best he could and reassured himself that everything will be alright, but the day when he battled Zabuza came back haunting him always. Naruto looked down as his hand started shaking a little, "Naruto, are you alright?" Naruto was a little surprised by the question because he was a little spaced out, " _Damn, I can't show her that I am nervous. Black Hand rule 2: Never show any weakness, even if you have to fake it_." Naruto looked at Mayuri, "I'm fine, I spaced out a little."

Mayuri hmmed, "Its rare for you to space out. Something… will happen soon. Won't it?" Naruto raised one eyebrow, " _She is sharp._ " Naruto sighed, "Yeah, probably. A decisive battle is coming up." Naruto tried to hide it but his shaking hand won't stop, Mayuri put her hand on Naruto's, "Its alright to be nervous you know. You may be strong and cool, but at the end of the day, you are human. All of us are afraid sometimes, the fear of losing, fear of the future." Mayuri looked a the setting sun, "You ninja have to suppress your emotions, but our emotions are proof that we are human. The fact that you are anxious proves that Naruto is human." Naruto's eyes widened, "We, humans, can only do what we are capable of. I have seen how hard you worked, I'm sure that if its you, you will definitely protect the village." Naruto stared at Mayuri with wide eyes, he looked down when he felt Mayuri tightening her grip, "I'm sure that you will win and when you do, I will bring you lunch again." Naruto's trembling disappeared and he smirked, "Yeah, your rice balls are delicious. Please make me some after I defeat them." Mayuri smiled from ear to ear, "Sure."

Naruto looked up at the setting sun, " _This kind of thing… Its not bad_." Naruto smirked, Zabuza's image appeared in Naruto's head again, " _Last time, I lost. This time, I will definitely win, no matter what_." Naruto looked down when he heard a voice, "Mayuri, its time to go home." She nodded her head, "Well, see you later, Naruto." She jumped down and started walking with her father. Naruto sighed, "Family, huh. I wonder whats it like to have someone who will take care of you." Naruto remembered what just happened and blushed lightly, "No, that was… Was she… Worried about me? Is this what its like when someone worries about you?" Naruto extended his hand in front of him and smirked lightly, "I guess… Its not bad… Not bad at all." Naruto jumped down near Tazuna when he started walking home. Tazuna raised one eyebrow, "What, did something good happen?" This time Naruto raised one eyebrow, "Not really." Tazuna smirked, "Then whats that smirk for?" Naruto's eyes widened, "What smirk?" Tazuna looked at Naruto and saw his face returned like usual, "Cheh, well, various things happen in life. Make sure to grab and hold on to the happy memories, things tend to fall apart really fast. Enjoy it as much as you can, while you can." Naruto raised one eyebrow again, "I don't really get what you mean." Tazuna smirked, "You are still young, you will find out eventually."

Next day

Sakura, Kakashi, Naruto and Tazuna walked to brigde, because Kakashi guessed that Zabuza will make his move soon. Sasuke still didn't fully recover so he was protecting Tazuna's home. When team 7 walked near the bridge they saw a mist engulfing it. Team 7 immediately saw a bunch of unconscious bodies on the floor, Kakashi raised one arm to stop the rest, "I know you're here. Come out, Zabuza."

Zabuza laughed from the mist, "Took you long enough. I got bored so I decided to play with these weaklings." Zabuza came out from the mist, the ninja with the mask slightly behind him, "I knew it, you were his accomplice." Zabuza laughed again as the ninja stayed quiet, "Well, too late, Kakashi. You had your chance and you lost it. I know how your sharingan works, this time, it won't be so easy. Haku, you kill the brats, I will kill Kakashi."

Kakashi raised his hitaite, "Sakura, you protect Tazuna. Naruto, take care of the masked ninja, Zabuza is mine." Naruto nodded his head and unsealed Crow King. Sakura took out a kunai and got into a firm stance in front of Tazuna, showing that she took her training seriously, "Well, well, it seems like you trained your brats during our break. The girl looks more like a ninja, though just a little. Unfortunately, it won't help against Haku."

Haku disappeared in a burst of speed and charged Naruto, a black katana dropped into Crow's hand and he flew forward and clashed with Haku. Naruto's eyes widened from the side, "Senbon?" He said quietly. Haku jumped to the side and threw a couple of senbon at Naruto, a couple of them hit him, but Naruto was able to dodge a couple, " _Don't focus solely on your puppet, you also have to move your real body, otherwise your opponent will take advantage of it_." Kotarou's words repeated in Naruto's head as he gritted his teeth, " _Damn, how could I forget something so simple._ " Haku dashed again at Naruto, when he lost concentration for a moment, Naruto moved his fingers and black spikes shot out of Crow, forcing Haku to jump back.

Small crows flew out of Crow's cloak and started flying towards Haku, they started exploding just as they got closer to Haku, who started jumping left and right to avoid the crows, but a couple of explosions still reached him so he received some injuries. After the smoke settled down Naruto saw a mirror in front of Haku, completely unscathed. Naruto felt a clash of chakra behind him, "So, Kakashi also started his fight. I have to finish mine as fast as I can." Naruto frowned as Crow landed in front of him again, " _I'm sure you will win and when you do, I will bring you lunch again._ " Naruto's eyes widened again, " _What the hell am I thinking about? I have to focus on the battle._ " Naruto still smirked lightly, " _I guess I have to finish this fight fast._ "

Haku appeared behind Naruto, "Its dangerous to space out during a battle." Naruto smirked, "I know." Naruto moved his fingers and two big wings formed from, Crow's cloak and started shooting black spikes at Haku from the side. Haku started jumping back and avoiding the spikes, Crow charged Haku again and when he was near Haku, Crow extended his free hand, a small hatch opened on its palm and spat out fire at Haku.

Haku landed on the ground and raised an ice mirror from the puddle beneath him just in time as the fire smashed against the mirror. The fire settled down, revealing the mirror to be undamaged again, "So, this is what they call a kekkei genkai, huh?" Naruto said as he appeared behind Haku, a knife in his hand.

Haku turned around with a senbon just barely blocking the knife attack, Naruto moved his fingers and Crow flew into the air behind Haku. Naruto took one step closer to Haku and Crow started shooting out spikes at his exposed back. Haku kicked Naruto in the gut, making him take a few steps back and jumped to the side. Immediately Naruto and Crow appeared on each side of Haku. Crow opened the hatch on his hand and Naruto prepared an Explosion Seal paper. Crows spat out fire from his hand while Naruto threw the paper, "Katsu!" Explosion and fire met at Haku's location. The heat was so intense even the water began to evaporate from the heat.

Naruto panted a little and put one hand on his stomach, "Damn, to kick so hard from that position." Naruto looked to the side when he saw a mirror rising from a puddle and Haku's reflection walking out from inside it, "You are strong. I guess if I want to defeat you, I can't hold back anymore." Naruto's eyes widened, "Strong?" " _I have seen how hard you have worked_." Mayuri's words repeated themselves again. Naruto frowned, " _I… am strong. I can do this. I can finally win._ " Naruto said in his head, then he focused back when he saw Haku going through handseals, " **Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals** " Mirrors started rising from the water around them and surrounded Naruto in a dome.

"This is my most powerful technique. No one has escaped it. Now, I will show you it's power." Haku said as he walked into a mirror, his reflection appearing on every single mirror. Naruto looked around and prepared Crow, "As if that's gonna work." Crow opened the hatch and spat out fire again at a mirror. The heat started evaporating a small puddle of water beneath the mirror, but when the fire stopped the mirror was unscathed. Naruto's eyes widened, then he heard Haku's voice from all sides, "These are special mirrors, reinforced with my chakra. You won't break them with such weak attacks."

Naruto frowned and prepared for any attacks, "I will say this only once. Give up and I will spare your life."Naruto frowned, "I refuse." Haku's calm voice came from all directions again, "Then your decision is made." Haku threw a volley of senbon at Naruto, who dodged the attacks and in response, immediately made Crow shoot a volley of black spikes at Haku.

Haku dashed from one mirror into another at high speed, Naruto could barely see, just as the spikes hit the mirror. Haku threw another volley of senbon at Naruto, who moved Crow to the front and blocked all the attack with it's katana and then shoot out a volley of spikes from its wings, this time, one at the mirror Haku was in and another volley at another mirror to the side. Haku dashed to another mirror and his eyes widened when he saw a volley of black spikes coming towards it. At the very last second Haku barely changed his course and got inside another mirror near the one who received the volley of spikes.

" _If he shoots out senbon from inside the mirror it means he needs to open a path for it. Which makes it possible for any attack to come inside the mirror just as his attacks come out. That's why he needs to_ _go inside_ _another mirror, if I can predict what mirror he will go into and shoot a_ _n_ _anticipatory volley I can injure him._ " Naruto deduced in his head and prepared Crow.

" _This kid… he is smart. A troublesome opponent has appeared. It seems like I will have to go all out_." Haku readied another handful of senbon, "Before we end this fight, can I hear your name?" Naruto raised one eyebrow, "Uzumaki Naruto." Haku raised his hands, "I see, my name is Haku. Prepare yourself, Naruto. I will go all out from now on."

Haku started throwing out volleys of senbon at high speed and switching between mirrors without delay. The senbon started raining on Naruto from all sides, he started blocking the senbon with Crow and his knife but an attack from time to time grazed him or landed in its intended target.

Naruto started shooting out spikes from Crow's wings from time to time, trying to follow Haku's movements but it wasn't of any use as at Haku was too fast. For a while there was nothing but the one sided battle of Haku showering Naruto with senbon and Naruto doing his best to defend, but sometimes attacks made it through and Naruto was beginning to tire out.

Naruto moved his fingers and Crow King spread out his wings, shooting out small crows in all directions when all of them spread out the crows exploded, covering the dome in smoke. Naruto immediately covered his face with his sleeve and started looking around, he saw a small shift in the smoke, he moved his fingers and Crow shot out a volley of black spikes, "Ugh." After a moment a sound came from the smoke.

When the smoke cleared out Naruto saw Haku's reflections in all of the mirrors but his leg was bleeding and injured. Naruto panted as he looked at the direction he saw Haku go, "Smart." Haku praised while he himself started panting a little. Haku prepared another handful of senbon. Without delay he threw the senbon again and charged into another mirror, Naruto gritted his teeth and while blocking the attacks shoot out a volley of spikes at the mirrors behind him.

Haku's eyes widened, the black spikes started grazing him as he entered the mirror and blocked off the path at the last second before the rest of the spikes entered. Naruto looked back as he panted, " _He can't alter his course too much while he travels into another mirror and his only choice is to choose the mirrors behind me, because the ones on the side are too difficult to enter as he would have to drastically reduce his speed and land on the ground to turn, that would make his movements obvious. My only choice is to prevent him from switching his mirrors a few times in a row because I would lose him and I couldn't predict his movements anymore._ "

Haku bit his lip from behind the mask, " _it seems like he figured it out. If I can't disappear from his view he will predict the mirror I will enter. The battle will become difficult from now on._ " Haku prepared another handful of senbon and threw them at Naruto and then dashed to another mirror. Naruto did the same as previously and blocked the senbon, while Crow shot out a volley of spikes at Haku. Both of them received some injuries from the exchange but Haku didn't stop as he entered the mirror, threw more senbon, tried his best to ignore the pain and dashed towards another mirror.

Naruto blocked again as he shot out more spikes. The exchange lasted for a while, both Naruto and Haku were all bloody and exhausted as they continued with this exchange, Haku trying to confuse Naruto and lose him. Naruto doing his best to track Haku and injure him while he can. Haku entered another mirror and dashed again while throwing some senbon.

This time, Haku landed on the ground to Naruto's side. Naruto gritted his teeth through the pain and charged Haku while blocking the senbon with Crow. Naruto prepared his knife and slashed at Haku, who blocked the attack while jumping back into a mirror. As soon as he entered it he kicked Naruto in the gut, sending him flying back into the middle. Haku used this opportunity and dashed to another mirror, but Naruto gritted his teeth and endured the pain, refusing to let his eyes close even for a second. He moved his fingers while standing up and Crow shot out a volley again, injuring Haku again.

Haku threw a huge quantity of senbon and dashed out of the mirror and landed on the ground. He started going throw some handseals, " **Ice Release: Demon Wind Shuriken** " Two massive four bladed ice shuriken rose from the puddles beneath him and shot out towards Naruto at high speed.

Naruto gritted his teeth, he knew he couldn't use Crow as he was blocking the senbon. He tried to jump over them, but one of his legs gave out and Naruto was forced to duck the first one and roll to the side to avoid the second one. Naruto panted on the ground in a crouch. Suddenly, Naruto heard the last thing he wanted to hear.

"Father!" A scream sounded from behind. Naruto's eyes widened and he looked back and saw Mayuri crouching near her father with a worried face, the two shuriken making their way towards her. Time stopped and Naruto could hear his own heartbeat. Images of Mayuri being torn apart by the shuriken started flashing in his head. Naruto gritted his teeth, " _I'm sure that you will win.._." Her words repeated over and over in his head. Naruto bit his lip so hard that blood started flowing down his chin. He stood up and pumped as much chakra as he could into his legs and dashed forward at breakneck speed, he disappeared in a blur as he dashed after the shuriken.

Time slowed down and Naruto watched as Mayuri was crouching and the shuriken slowly made their way towards her. Naruto bit his lip even harder and pumped even more chakra into his legs, his eyes turning purple again, a small purple light emitted from the back of his neck. Naruto's anger rose, Zabuza's words repeated themselves again and again, It looked like Naruto was about to bite his lip off as he pumped even more chakra into his legs and dashed faster and faster.

Naruto made it near the shuriken and extended his hand towards Mayuri, "Reach! I said reach you stupid hand!" Naruto screamed in his head. Blood started pouring out of his legs from the chakra overload and Naruto felt his speed reducing, his eyes narrowed, "Not on my watch! I said faster you stupid body!" Naruto yelled in his head and he jumped forward using all of his strength.

He grabbed Mayuri by the shoulders just as the shuriken reached her and rolled to the side, the shuriken passing him and inflicting a serious wound on his shoulder. Naruto slid on the ground to a stop and panted, "I made it." Naruto said while panting. Naruto sighed, "What are you doing here?"Naruto yelled when he confirmed that he felt a small weight in his hands. Naruto froze when he felt something warm covering him.

He wanted to look down but a sense of dread overcame Naruto and his face froze, horrified. He was holding Mayuri in his hands but he thought something was off. She was too light, when he looked behind him he saw a splatter of blood and Mayuri's bottom half there. Naruto looked back into his hands and saw only Mayuri's upper half in his hands. Blood pouring down and covering Naruto, her eyes, barely open, gazing at him.

Mayuri slowly raised her hand and looked like she wanted to say something but only blood came out of her mouth and with a cough covered Naruto's face with it. Her hand gently touched his cheek, wiping some of the blood off and fell to the ground. Naruto simply stared at her, his horrified face frozen, "No… No… This… Wh..." Naruto tried to say something but nothing could come out, he could only watch as the life from Mayuri's eyes slowly faded.

Tears slowly formed in Naruto's eyes, "Why? Why are you here?" The tears uncontrollably started pouring down Naruto's cheeks, "You should have been at home. You should have come at lunch like always." Naruto sniffled, "So, why are you here?" Naruto slowly raised Mayuri and hugged her as tightly as he could. Naruto could only feel Mayuri's blood covering him. More tears went down Naruto's cheecks, "Damn… DAMN IT ALL. WHY THE FUCK AM I SO PATHETIC. WHY THE FUCK AM I SO WEAK. THE FUCK AM I STRONG WHAT IS THE POINT IN WINNING IF EVERYONE ELSE DIES." Naruto screamed as loud as he could.

Haku stood there silently watching. Kakashi and Zabuza stopped their battle and they looked back, "Well, well. Looks like your student is having some trouble."Zabuza said with a small laugh, "Naruto!"Kakashi yelled and he prepared a kunai, "I am taking you down, Zabuza. Now!" Sakura and Tazuna simply looked at the direction the scream came from.

"What is the point in being strong if I can't defeat anybody? Even if I win now what is the point?" Naruto asked as he hugged Mayuro, tears went down his cheek slike a river. Naruto started panting harder and harder.

A faint black smoke started emitting from his bandaged hand and the seal on his neck started shinning even harder. Naruto's eyes turned into a deep purple. Red chakra surrounded Naruto and started mixing with the black chakra emitting from his hand. Naruto's left eye remained the same deep purple, but his right eye turned a very deep red with a slit. The mixing chakra turned into a very dark mix of orange and dark purple.

Naruto slowly looked up at Haku, his two different eyes glaring at Haku. A massive killing intent washed over the bridge, stopping all movement again. As if a terrifying monstrosity was released into the wild and it was starved for a very long time," **Yo** u! I' **m goi** ng to m **urder** you!" Naruto yelled and with a great burst of speed completely disappeared. Haku couldn't even react when Naruto appeared in front of him and punched him in the gut, sending him flying on the ground, like a stone skipping across the water.

Naruto disappeared and appeared behind Haku again before he could even stop. Naruto reared back his fist and punched Haku in the face, shattering the mask and stopping all momentum. From the punch Haku started spinning in place, but Naruto wasn't done. He kicked Haku in the gut, sending him flying up. Naruto jumped into the air and kicked Haku again, sending him crashing into the ground. Naruto landed on the ground and walked towards Haku and then picked him up by his collar. The mask had already shattered, revealing a boy with a beautiful face, almost like a girls. But to Naruto it didn't mater anymore.

Naruto reared back his fist and extended his fingers. The strange mix of chakra gathered around Naruto's hand and he moved it forward, piercing Haku's heart. Naruto let go of Haku's collar and watched him fall to the ground. Blood seeped out of the hole and the light faded from Haku's eyes. Naruto simply stood over Haku's dead body with a blank look in his eyes. The mist started lifting and it revealed that Kakashi had also finished his fight, piercing Zabuza's heart with a **Chidori**.

When the mist lifted both Sakura and Kakashi looked back where they heard Naruto and their eyes widened when they saw Naruto standing there. Haku on the floor, dead. Naruto was standing, glaring at him with strange, mismatched eyes and covered in blood from head to toe, "Naruto." Kakashi said quietly.

All of them heard clapping from the end of the bridge and saw Gato standing there with his thugs, "Nice work, Konoha's ninja. You took care of two nuisances for me and you exhausted yourselves, making it easier for me to dispose of you now." Gato said with a laugh, "Stop right there, Gato!" He heard a yell from the direction of the village and saw all of the villagers gathered there with weapons in their hands, Sasuke standing at the side, "We won't let you do what you want with the village anymore." One of them yelled. Naruto didn't listen though he simply stared blankly with those mismatched eyes, the strange mix of chakra covering him in a small layer and rising into the air above him like smoke.

Gato laughed, "Stop me? Its a good thing I predicted that this will happen at some point in time." Gato snapped his fingers. In the crowd of villagers some people started smirking and raised their swords, cutting some of them down immediately, "What? What are you fools doing? Gato is the enemy here." Gato laughed from the side, "Fools, how do you think I know how everything in this village is happening. A little money and those guys gave me all the info I wanted and became my minions."

Some of the villagers stared in disbelief, "You guys?" Gato snapped his fingers, "Slaughter the fools who oppose me." The villagers started a massacre between themselves. Naruto stared at them his eyes slowly widening, "Huh? What is this stupid corpse doing in my way?" Naruto turned around at the speed that looked like he would break his neck. Gato was looking at Mayuri's corpse in front of him, "Out of my way, stupid corpse." He kicked the corpse and started stepping over it. Naruto's eyes widened and the chakra around him exploded in a violent torrent, creating a crack underneath Naruto.

Naruto slowly started walking towards Gato and the thugs, his speed slowly increasing, "Huh? You dare oppose me, brat? Kill him." The thugs walked to the front showing off their weapons. Naruto was walking at first then he started jogging until it turned into a run and finally he completely disappeared in a blur and appeared in the middle of the thugs, "You fucking bastards!" Naruto said screamed.

Turning around Naruto stabbed with his hand and pierced one thug's heart and pulled it out, throwing it to another thug at the side. He turned around with a jumped and kicked another thug, breaking his neck and bending his head the other way. Slaughter ensued. Nothing but torn apart body parts were on the ground after Naruto was finished, he was covered in blood like he got out of the shower, his clothes torn and ripped from all the attacks he received.

Naruto slowly turned to Gato, with a blank look that said 'I don't care anymore', "Wa-Wait a second. Kid, you are strong. Join me, I can pay you. How much do you want? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand, hundred thousand. It doesn't matter I am rich and I will become even richer after I take control of this land. Join me and all the money in this world will be yours." Naruto walking towards Gato with unsteady feet, "I… won? How can...this… be called… a win." Naruto said quietly and when he walked near Gato he pierced his heart in one move.

Kakashi looked back at Naruto after he finished dealing with the traitor villagers, "Naruto..." Naruto stood there and suddenly started swaying, "What is the point of being strong?" he said as he fell on his back and put his arm over his eyes. Tears started flowing, "Just how am I strong? I wanted to win, to defeat my opponents, but… How is this a win? What... was the point... of this battle?" Naruto said as his consciousness slowly faded and he passed out.

A few days later

"Its your fault! Naruto, why didn't you protect the village? You said you would. You failed!" Mayuri's voice and face appeared, everything started twisting and distorting and another Naruto, with purple eyes appeared in front of him and started laughing like a maniac. Naruto's yes widened, "Shut up!" He yelled, the second Naruto faded and Naruto felt something behind him, he turned around and saw two massive red eyes and a large toothy grin looking at him. It looked like the shadow of some massive beast. The beast opened its mouth and swallowed Naruto in one bite. Naruto's eyes opened and he jumped into a sitting positions, sweating and panting. Naruto brought one hand to his face to wipe the sweat, "A… Dream?" Naruto asked. He sighed as he closed and rubbed his eyes.

Naruto opened his eyes, as all of the events of the battle started rushing to his brain again, tears started forming again, "Damn it!" He said quietly as he put his feet on the ground. Sakura walked into the room after a knock, "Naruto..." Naruto sat there quietly without a response, "Are you alright?" Naruto didn't respond again, when Sakura was about to leave but she heard Naruto's voice, "I'm… Fine." He said and stood up without turning to face Sakura, reluctantly, Sakura closed the door and walked downstairs.

Naruto looked up and saw his reflection in the window, small, dark circles under his eyes, a blank look, "Just… What does being strong means?" Naruto quietly asked as he looked down. The circle on his neck stopped shinning and faded again.

Chapter END


	7. Chapter 7: The Chunin Exam begins

Chapter 7: The Chunin Exam Begins

A couple of days later, Konoha.

Sarutobi sat there silently reading the mission report. After a few minutes he sighed, "I see, it must have been hard. Team 7, you are on break for a week. Go rest up, I think..." Sarutobi glanced at Naruto's tired form, "You need to clear your heads. Dismissed." Team 7 walked out of the Hokage's office. Kakashi sighed, "Alright, you guys have a break for a week. We will continue daily training though, so come to training ground 7. We can't let your abilities get dull. Now, go home and rest up for the day." All of them dispersed and walked to their own homes.

Naruto's home.

Naruto walked inside his home and walked to his room, dropped his bag on a chair. While walking towards his bed Naruto glanced at a mirror on the wall, dark bags under his eyes and red eyes with a blank look. Naruto sighed, "I'm… fine."Naruto's head dropped, "I have to get stronger. I have to become the strongest." Naruto said as he slowly walked towards his bed and fell on it, slowly closing his eyes. The same dream as the one in Wave repeated itself and Naruto slowly opened his eyes. Slowly, he looked at the clock near his bed and saw that he only slept for 2 hours, "I guess I'm not going to get anymore sleep." Naruto thought as he sat up and walked out of his room, towards the basement.

Naruto took out a roughed up scroll from his bag with "Crow King" written on it and another clean scroll. He put the clean scroll on the table and unsealed the puppet on another table, all roughed up and with spare parts, obviously mismatched. Naruto sighed and he looked at a black scroll on his table, " _When you find yourself in need of power, you will know where to find it_."Kotarou's words repeated themselves in Naruto's head and he glanced towards the clean scroll, " _Normal puppetry has its limitations. Sooner or later you will experience them yourself_." Naruto blankly looked at the scroll, as he recalled all of his fights, then without a word turned to Crow King and took out his tools and notebook, opened to the page with Crow King written on the top and got to work.

6 days later.

Team 7 stood in training ground 7, Kakashi in front of them, "Alright, I guess its time I told you guys about the Chunin exam. To put it simply, its just as it sounds, an exam meant to test you if you are ready to advance to chunin rank. This year, the exam will be held in Konoha and I think its a great opportunity for all of you."Kakashi said as he took out three pieces of paper and handed them to each member of Team 7, "This is voluntarily, if you don't think you are good enough, no one will force you. So, you can take your time and think about it until tomorrow." Kakashi said with an eye smile. He glanced through his students and after a sigh, he turned around and started walking back home.

Sakura looked between Sasuke and Naruto, " _I'm glad that both of them recovered. Naruto looked really worn out and affected by the battle. But now it looks like he is back to his usual self_." Sakura smiled, " _Well, I bet that both of them will participate so I can't be the only one to chicken out_." Sakura urged herself.

Naruto quietly looked at the piece of paper in his hands and started walking back towards his house, " _A good opportunity. With this, I will finally find out how strong I am_." Naruto said while he tightly clenched his fist, Mayuri's face flashing in his mind. Naruto narrowed his eyes and frowned, "This time, I will win."

Next day

Naruto walked towards the academy gates and saw Team 7 was already there. Sakura waved her hand towards Naruto, "Naruto, good morning." Naruto nodded his head and exchanged glances with Sasuke then all of them started walking towards the entrance.

The team walked to the third floor straight and walked to the entrance of the classroom they were assigned to. All of them stopped when Kakashi appeared, "Well now, it seems like all of you have gathered." Sakura raised one eyebrow, so Kakashi decided to elaborate, "You see, the chunin exams are a team competition. If at least one of you didn't come I wouldn't have allowed you inside. I did that because I didn't want any of you being under pressure. None of that matters as all of you came either way. So, the exam will begin shortly so you should head inside." Kakashi said as he smiled and disappeared.

The team exchanged glances and went inside, there they saw genin from different villages scattered all around the classroom. The rest of their generation genin started meeting up and talking, meanwhile Naruto glanced around the classroom, scouting out his competition and trying to find any strong opponents. After a few seconds of looking through the crowd Naruto locked eyes with a red haired ninja from the sand. Both of them kept looking at each other until Naruto saw another team from the Sand.

"I feel like I have seen them before..." Naruto frowned, he tried to walk back but he saw that a girl with long brown hair from the group turned around, for a second Naruto's eyes widened as Mayuri's image flashed through his mind for a second. Naruto shook his head and rubbed his eyes with frown, "She is dead..." Naruto said quietly, it sounded more like to assure himself though. The girl noticed him and after a few seconds started waving her hand towards him and slowly made her way to him, "Hey, senpai. Long time no see." Naruto sighed, "Ayami..." Ayami grinned. Naruto looked behind Ayami and saw that Kagami and Akame walk up, "Hey, senpai. Who would have guessed we would meet like this again." Akame said with a smile.

Naruto sighed again, "Well…." Ayami started pouting, "Whats with the cold reaction."then she grinned, "Don't tell me you missed us so much you don't know what to do, senpai." Naruto frowned, "Nothing like that." Kagami walked up to Naruto, "It seems like we will most likely compete against each other in this competition. I look forward to it." Naruto frowned, "Doesn't matter." Ayami raised one eyebrow, "Did something happen? You seem to be in a bad mood." Naruto shook his head and wanted to say something but he was interrupted when a commotion started behind him. Naruto looked back and saw a konoha genin with gray hair and glasses being cornered by three sound ninja.

Naruto immediately focused on the fight in order to gather up info about his opponents, "Senpai, aren't you going to help him? He is from your village, right?" Ayami asked from the side. Naruto glanced at Ayami then at the battle, "Not my business." the trio from behind Naruto exchanged glances, "Is it just me… Or has senpai become rather cold?" Akame asked. Both Kagami and Ayami nodded their heads.

"Eyes to the front everyone." A man said after he arrived at the front of the classroom, a line of men behind him, "We will now begin the first part of the chunin exam so clean your ears and shut up. My name is Ibiki Morino and I will be conducting this test." Ibiki then explained the first part of the exam, that it was a written exam and then he proceeded to explain the rules. After he finished his explanation everyone began to work on their tests.

It was nothing particularly hard, there were questions that a genin couldn't answer but because puppetry involved a lot of theory of ninja arts, Naruto could answer most of the questions. After 45 minutes had passed Ibiki announced the tenth question. It was a simple courage test to see if you had the courage to move on with the mission even if you barely knew anything about it. After the test ended probably around half of the genin teams cleared out. When the test was done Anko arrived in the classroom and after a couple of words everyone made their way towards training ground 44.

Training ground 44

Anko stood on a big platform in front of all of the genin, "Alright brats, I will now explain the rules for the second part of the chunin exam. All of you will head into the forest behind me with your team. Each team will be given an earth or a heaven scroll. Your objective will be to steal the second scroll from another team. Fighting, stealing, killing and everything else is allowed, the only winning condition is to get both scrolls and arrive at the tower in the middle of the forest. The duration of this test will be 5 days. Everything you will need to survive, you will have to find it in the forest. You will also be given flares, if you use them your sensei will come to pick you up and you will be disqualified. Now, sign these piece of paper that says we will not be held responsible if you die in the forest and go get your scroll."

The genin started signing their papers and one by one they made their way towards a tent to receive their scrolls. Kagami, Akame and Ayami walked up to Naruto, "Hey, senpai." Naruto looked back at the three, "Its finally here, huh?" Kagami said. Naruto raised one eyebrow, "We will show you how strong we became after all this time. During our training all of us wanted to become strong like you. Now, we will show you the fruits of our labor and defeat you."Kagami said with a smirk. Naruto sighed, "Do whatever you want." Ayami grinned, "That was our plan from the beginning. I will make you say how awesome I am." Ayami said as her grin widened. Akame cleared her throat from the side, "Well, you won't get to show him how awesome you are if you stand here all day. Lets go get our scroll." All of them nodded and started walking away, "Just you wait, senpai! I will make your eyes pop out of your head." Ayami yelled as she was walking away.

Naruto stared at her for a few seconds, then a miniature smile made its way up his face, "Those guys never change." He said quietly, "Do your best, midget." He said loud enough for Ayami to hear, she turned around with a big grin, "I will make you take back those words." Naruto put his hands in his pockets and looked up, "I guess I will have to look over my shoulder now." He said as he looked at Sakura and Sasuke as they were finishing up with their papers.

20 minutes later.

Anko stood on the platform eating her dango, "Now that everything is done, you can say your final prayers. Get ready, set, go!" She yelled. All of the gates opened and the genin dashed inside the forest.

Some time later.

Team 7 dashed through the forest at high speed, eventually they landed on a branch. Sakura looked at Sasuke then at Naruto, "Why did we stop?" Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances, "We can't keep on going like this, without a plan." Sasuke said. Sakura hit her self on the head, "Right… So do you have any ideas?" Sakura asked. Sasuke looked like he started thinking, "We can simply keep on moving towards the tower. Most likely the stronger and confident teams will be looking for any other team, so we will meet one of them on the way. Most of the weaker teams will probably go into hiding and wait for the stronger teams to pass the test and then go out on a hunt. We have the best opportunity during the first day." Naruto said. Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances, "Yeah, but… We mght meet a strong a team. Isn't that dangerous?"

Naruto sighed, "Like there will be anyone more dangerous here than Zabuza. None of these team will come close to what we faced in Wave and we became even stronger during our break. Our only worry is to not exhaust ourselves during our fights so that other teams won't ambush us while we are tired. Other than that we have nothing to worry about." Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances again, "I guess that makes sense. So we will head towards the tower then?" Naruto nodded his head, "Unless you have a better idea." He glanced at both of them. Sasuke shook his head, "No, this is fine."

The team nodded their heads and started dashing through the trees again, but as soon as they began running again a massive snake appeared and smashed its head against Naruto and disappeared in the forest. Both Sasuke and Sakura looked to the side when they heard a small chuckle.

With Naruto.

Naruto landed on a branch, far away from the snake. He quickly took out and unsealed Crow King, calmly looking at the snake, "Out of our group you singled me out and made me us separate. Its obvious you are no ordinary snake. In the book Kotarou gave me it was written that there are ninja who can summon animals to aid them in battle. So I bet that you are a summon and you were ordered to split our team apart." Naruto attached the strings to Crow King, a katana dropped in its hand, "It was also written that Summoning Technique is a very advanced skill that mostly jounin or anbu know. If there is someone that strong here I guess I have to take care of you and head back."

The snake opened its mouth and charged at Naruto again, who jumped into the air and landed on a branch far above, he moved his fingers and Crow flew towards the snake. The snake tried to eat crow but it flew to the side and slashed with its katana, leaving a long injury on it's body while it flew throughout the length of its body. The snake smashed its head in a tree and after a few screams disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Naruto narrowed his eyes, "That can't be all..." He looked below him and after a few moments of silence finally said, "You can come out now. Or should I force you out?"

Two ninja appeared from the shadows of the trees. Simple ninja from the grass village, " _I don't sense anything dangerous from them. That means the summoner isn't with them, I guess they thought if they gang up on me, they could beat me. So, that means the summoner is with Sasuke and Sakura_." Naruto thought in his head as Crow flew in front of him, " _These guys are only a waste of time..._ "

The two ninjas exchanged glances, "This midget looks weak. We will take him out in a flash." Naruto's eyes widened. Suddenly, Mayuri's face flashed in his mind again. Naruto put one hand over his face and gritted his teeth, then he looked up with a glare, "She… Is gone. Don't let her get to you." Naruto said quietly to himself.

The two ninja jumped to the side and tried a pincer attack on Naruto but two black wings formed on Crow's back and started shooting black spikes at them. The two ninja dodged the spikes and disappeared into the shadows of the forest. Naruto also brought Crow back and jumped into the shadows.

For a few minutes there was nothing but silence. Suddenly, one of the ninja jumped out of the shadows and a second later Crow appeared behind him and pierced his heart, Naruto also dropped down from the shadows, near the corpse. He stood there quietly looking at the corpse then quietly, "Pathetic." He said. Not a moment later the second ninja appeared and pierced Naruto, "You damn bastard!" He screamed.

To his surprise the Naruto started fading like mist in front of him, "Genjutsu." The ninja said, surprised. He quickly looked back and saw Crow flying at him. He took out a kunai and clashed with Crow, but it suddenly moved to the side and kicked the ninja in the gut, sending him flying. After a few seconds the air around the ninja started distorting and the Maiden appeared around him, with a small tug of the chakra threads from Naruto, The Maiden closed itself, with the ninja inside. Naruto didn't bother waiting and dropped on The Maiden's head, Crow descended behind him, "Your partner is already dead... Don't waste my time and either run away or come out."

After a moment of silence a volley of kunai knives shot out of the shadows, Naruto detached one door from The Maiden and blocked the kunai with it. Kunai shot out from another side, this time Naruto blocked them with one of Crow's wings. Kunai shot out from different sides, after looking at them closer Naruto saw that all of them were poisoned. He quietly blocked the kunai while observing his surroundings. Wave after wave, the kunai were blocked by Naruto and fell to the floor of the forest.

After a while the kunai started disappearing after Naruto blocked them, " _He is running out of kunai so he started using genjutsu. He will come out soon._ " Another volley came from above Naruto, he used Crow's wings to block the volley. At the same moment the ninja appeared in front of Naruto, "You can't shoot your spikes from this angle. You're mine." He said as he tried to stab Naruto in the gut. Naruto just frowned in return and moved his fingers. Just as the kunai was about to stab Naruto three chains shot out from behind Naruto and stabbed the ninja through the gut, carrying him off and slamming him into a tree branch above them, "Where did he hide the chains?" The ninja asked, as blood poured out of his mouth.

He looked at Naruto and saw that the chains didn't come out of him, but from the front of Crow's cloak, "This damn bastard." The ninja spat out as the light was fading from his eyes. He glanced at the long black, shuriken styled chain, "Shit, he got us good." He said as his head dropped. Naruto moved his fingers and the chains retraced themselves into Crow's cloak and let the body fall to the bottom of the forest. Naruto blankly stared at the falling corpse, "Did he die because I was strong or because he was weak? Just what does being strong means?" Naruto looked to the side when he heard a huge explosion. He jumped off from The Maiden on to a branch and started dashing back towards Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto landed on a branch and saw Sasuke and Sakura in the distance. Sakura was knocked out cold and Sasuke was on the ground, writhing in pain while holding his neck. Naruto looked to the side and saw another grass ninja standing there, but his face was melted and snake like eyes were staring at Sasuke. Naruto frowned, "That… Doesn't look like make up. Could that be a forbidden jutsu of some sort? It looks like Sasuke landed one fire jutsu on him, so normal make up or illusions would have disappeared. Snake… Forbidden jutsu… Where have I read about them?" Naruto said quietly. He heard a chuckle from the man standing there, "You don't have to be shy. Come out and we can talk, little rat." Naruto frowned, "Great sensing abilities…"

Naruto jumped down from the tree and in front of the man. The man looked at Naruto, his calculating eyes evaluating him, "Oh my, so you survived. Impressive. I changed my opinion of you." The man said. Naruto glanced at Sasuke and saw a small seal on his neck, then he looked back at the man, "Now I remember." Naruto said. The man raised one eyebrow, "What?" Naruto frowned, "Snake summons, forbidden techniques. Your name is Orochimaru." Naruto said.

Orochimaru looked surprised, then he started chuckling, "Oh my, for someone so young to know of me. I must be famous." Naruto stared at him as he moved his fingers and Crow descended behind him, Naruto stared at him, prepared for any attack, Orochimaru smiled, "You don't have to be so tense."

"What is the seal on Sasuke's neck?" Naruto asked. Orochimaru's smile dropped a little, "You look like a smart kid, but did you honestly believe I would tell you?" Naruto shook his head, "Then… What does the seal do?" Orochimaru smiled wider and licked his lips, "Smart boy. Its nothing dangerous. Just a little present for Sasuke. I bet he will appreciate it."

"So your purpose to come here was Sasuke?" Naruto asked. Orochimaru brought up one finger and moved it from side to side, "Be patient. If we are playing twenty questions, I think its my turn to ask something." Naruto frowned, "Fine." Orochimaru chuckled, "My opinion of you keeps rising higher. Where did you learn puppetry?" Orochimaru asked.

Naruto was surprised by the question, "From a person in Suna." This time Orochimaru was surprised, he started laughing, "Well now, I give you ten points. You keep getting more and more interesting. Answering my question without giving me any information. But, I guess you did answer it, it was my fault for being so vague with the details. Fine, you win, you can ask me."

Naruto was silent for a few moments, "Is your objective here only Sasuke?" Naruto asked. Orochimaru put on a thinking face, "Well, I have more plans. But I suppose Sasuke is like a bonus." Orochimaru said with a smile. Naruto opened his mouth but Orochimaru interrupted him, "I guess we are running out of time. We will have to stop here. Say, Naruto. Would you be interested in coming with me?" Orochimaru asked.

Naruto was surprised, "You think I would just gladly follow you right now?" Orochimaru chuckled, "Of course not. But, with me you can get anything you want. Wealth, fame, power, women, whatever you want, you can get it." Naruto thought about it for a few seconds, Orochimaru smirked even wider, "I know about you, Uzumaki Naruto. Shunned by his own village, everyone treats you like a monster. If you stay here the village will only use you until you dry up and then it will throw you away." Naruto put on a thinking face, "True." Orochimaru smirked even wider if it was possible, "But, if I come with you, what guarantee I have that you won't do the same? If I come with you, I will get what I want, but at what cost? Staying in this village for the time being is a safer choice."

Orochimaru put on an obviously sad and hurt face, "I'm hurt, do you honestly think I would treat my subordinates so bad? Its true that it wouldn't be easy, but atleast with me you will know that you have to watch your back and as long as you are useful I have no intention of throwing you away. We can simply use each other. You can use me to attain your desires and I will use you to attain mine. What do you say?" Naruto shook his head, "The last time a man trusted a snake, he was thrown out of heaven. I have no intention of repeating the same mistake." Orochimaru smiled, "I see, too bad. But, I won't let you go so easily." He said as he charged at Naruto.

"I have no intention of being caught, easily." Naruto moved his fingers and Maiden appeared around Orochimaru, he smirked and jumped up, "I guess I have some time left. I will test this child." Orochimaru said quietly. He moved through hand seals and blew out a fireball towards Naruto, who moved his fingers and made The Maiden block the attack. An explosion occurred and destroyed the wooden puppet.

Orochimaru landed on the ground, but as he landed Crow shot out of the smoke and started slashing at Orochimaru with it's katana, while he danced around it with snake-like movements. Orochimaru side stepped another attack and jumped into the air over another. Chains shout out of Crow and started following Orochiamru, intent on piercing him.

Orochimaru jumped over the chains and used a tree to jump towards Naruto, but miniature crows shot out of Crow's cloak and started following him. Explosions started occurring left and right, blasting holes in trees and blowing off branches. Orochimaru landed on another branch and wanted to jump up, but he was surprised when he saw that one chain was wrapped around his ankle. A small crow rammed into his chest and exploded, sending him flying in pieces.

Naruto's eyes widened, "What? It can't be so easy." As those words left Naruto's mouth Orochimaru's mouth opened and another Orochimaru appeared from it, completely fine. While Naruto was still surprised by the jutsu Orochimaru dashed at Naruto, who barely managed to react to his increased speed, "I know you are hiding you trump card, hidden around you. Lets see it and wrap this up shall we? We are running out of time."

Just as Orochimaru was 15 steps from Naruto, a world around Orochimaru started distorting and mirrors appeared out of nowhere. Mirrors made from ice made a dome around Orochimaru, who looked pleasantly surprised by this jutsu, "A kekkei genkai. I see, you are the same as Sasori, aren't you." A reflection of Haku, the same as when he was alive appeared in all of the mirrors and started showering Orochimaru with senbon, laced with deadly poison.

Orochimaru started dodging left and right and just as he was about to escape from the dome, he was stopped by a few spikes from Crow. Orochimaru was dodging with perfect accuracy, not a single senbon even grazed him and all the time he had a smile on his face, like a child in a playground, "Truly magnificent. I want you more and more, Uzumaki Naruto." He said quietly. He dodged another attack and disappeared in a blur and appeared outside the dome, "You are strong, but not enough to fight against me." He said with a smirk.

With another dash he appeared in front of Naruto, a knife dropped into Naruto's hand and seals immediately lit up and Naruto started slashing with perfect accuracy at Orochimaru's vital organs, it seemed like Orochimaru was even more pleased by the lack of hesitation to go straight for the kill, "Excellent, but you still need to grow. To increase the difficulty for your exam I guess I will give you a handicap." Orochimaru stepped to the side and grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him to the side, destroying Naruto's balance, then kicked him in the gut, so powerful it lifted him off his feet, then reared back his fist and did a series of quick and powerful punches, sending him flying and crashing into a tree.

Naruto gritted his teeth and while coughing up blood he rolled to the side and quickly stood up on his unsteady feet. Orochimaru appeared in front of him again and punched Naruto in the face, grabbed his left arm and with a quick kick broke it. Naruto's eyes widened and he couldn't help but let out a scream. Orochimaru licked his lips in response, "This should make it hard for you to pass the exam now. It is all needed in order for you to grow." Orochimaru chuckled as he grabbed Naruto by his throat, "Now then, time to give you a surprise and get out of here."

Naruto's vision started fading, he saw Orochimaru opening his mouth and the next moment Naruto could only feel tremendous pain in his neck. Naruto only heard Orochimaru's laughter as his vision faded and Naruto fell unconscious.

Chapter END

 **A quick note. I know I didn't put on a descriptions for what Akame, Kagami and Ayami are wearing. I'm just not good with things like that, so… You are free to use your imagination and to dress them up just as you like.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Chunin Exam ends

Chapter 8: The Chunin Exam end

3 Days later, Inside the Forest of Death.

Naruto looked around and noticed that only complete darkness and silence surrounded him. A massive red double door, covered in chains from the bottom to the top, appeared in front of Naruto. He looked at it curiously, but he had his guard up. Naruto walked closer to the door but the closer he got the bigger they became, "Whats with these doors? Its like they are trying to keep out Satan himself." Naruto said as he walked up to the door. Carefully, he placed one hand on the door, where a small seal was engraved, "Where have I seen this." Just as he touched the seal it lit up in a purple light, Naruto jumped back, prepared for any attacks, but the light died down.

Naruto carefully walked up to the door again and pressed his ear against it. After a few seconds of silence something hit the door from behind, the hit was so hard that it even moved an inch, despite all the chains on it. Naruto took a few steps back, "Just what is this and where am I?" Naruto noticed small amounts of malicious chakra starting to leak from behind the door, "This chakra... Why does it feel familiar? Have I been here before?"

Naruto felt a presence near him, a malicious, inhuman presence. He carefully looked to the side, but only the endless darkness was there. Suddenly, to massive red eyes with slits opened, like they appeared out of nowhere, followed by a massive grin that displayed big sharp teeth. A shiver ran down Naruto's spine, he understood immediately that whatever it is, this beast is anything but friendly and weak. The two stared at each other for a while in absolute silence.

"Who… What are you?" Naruto asked, of course he didn't expect an answer but he still asked. The beast after a few moments of silence opened it's mouth, " **You don't even know who I am, yet you still dare to show your face here. I guess you really have forgotten… No, rather, your memories have been sealed, brat.** " Naruto's eyes widened, "My memories… Sealed? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, irritated.

The beast's smirk widened and it started laughing, " **Well now, it seems I will have some entertainment for a while. Now, its time for you to leave, brat. Don't come back here, until you remember what I am**." The beast said, nine massive and black tentacle-like things, obscured in the darkness appeared around them. The beast opened its massive mouth and devoured Naruto.

Reality

Naruto jumped from his bed, panting and sweating. Naruto grabbed his head with his hands as pain shot through his head, as it faded away Naruto looked up as he heard a commotion outside. Naruto could hear screams and fighting outside but his view was blurry and there was a loud ringing in his ears. Despite the situation Naruto remembered that he was attacked by Orochimaru, after looking around he understood that he was inside a hollowed tree trunk.

As more sounds came from the outside, Naruto stood up slowly and while leaning his hands on the walls, he made his way to the exit. He slowly peeked out but the harsh rays of sun made him close his eyes and put a hand to protect them from the sun. Slowly, Naruto moved his hand and opened his eyes. Through his blurry view Naruto barely saw what looked like a wave of sharp air flying towards him, Naruto tried to dodge the attack but as he stepped back he tripped on his feet and fell on his back.

His vision cleared after the dangerous situation and he tried his best to stand up again, he tried to push off the ground but he barely had any strength. As his vision cleared a little again Naruto saw weird black markings on his hands, black demonic fang-like markings. As his vision cleared further Naruto felt a sharp pain in his left hand and he collapsed on his side. Memories of how Orochimaru broke his arm came rushing back. As his head slowly cleared Naruto could finally understand what was going on around him, he guessed that his team was under attack and from the looks of it Sasuke and Sakura were fighting, so he tried to push himself off the ground again.

Sharp pain shot throughout Naruto's head so he quickly grabbed his head and fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Naruto started panting harder and harder as the pain kept growing stronger, it looked like Naruto's fingers will dig into his scalp from the amount of strength he used, but the pain was so intense Naruto could only release a small and silent scream. Blurry images started flowing into Naruto's brain. Images of Konoha. The image Naruto got was very blurry, just a simple image of Konoha's night sky and rooftops. It looked like the view of someone looking at the sky from the street, though it was very blurry and looked like watching a very old movie, then the person who was looking at the sky looked down and saw nothing but destruction around him and blood on the floor. The ringing in Naruto's ears grew stronger and stronger. Naruto turned on his back as he released another quiet scream and turned on his other side, his hands pressing against his ears as hard as they could.

"GAAAAh!"Naruto screamed as he unconsciously released a wave of chakra from his body as he turned on his other side again, the pain and ringing growing more intense and louder. Suddenly, it all stopped, the pain, the ringing even the image disappeared. Naruto was laying on the floor panting, holding his head. Naruto looked up with a blank look on his face, the markings on his body started moving like they were a live, taking on a black color with blood red spots on them and a dark chakra started emitting from Naruto's body as a seal appeared on the back of Naruto's neck and stared releasing a dark purple hue.

Outside

Sakura could only look at the scene before her with wide eyes. While she was taking care of Sasuke and Naruto, suddenly a team of sound ninja attacked her. For a while she held her own but at the end they still overpowered her, then a leaf ninja named Rock Lee entered the scene and tried to help her out but even he was defeated, then Shikamaru, Choji and Ino came to the scene to help her out. After a while of fighting it looked like even they were going to be defeated but Sasuke awakened and started fighting the sound ninja, he even took them on with no problems, but the malicious aura and the black markings on Sasuke's body worried Sakura.

Its like Sasuke was not himself, he fought without mercy, completely crushing any attack that came at him and returning an attack ten fold. She could only sit on the ground and stare at the unfolding events before her.

Sasuke stood there silently before the three sound ninja, " **Decapitating Airwave** " Zaku screamed as he unleashed two sharp waves of air in an X towards Sasuke, who just jumped to the side to avoid them. Sasuke then took out a handful of kunai knives and with a small spin threw all of them in seemingly random directions, "Where are you aiming at. **Decapitating Airwaves**." Zaku yelled again and unleashed another pair of sharp waves of air. Sasuke jumped to the side again to avoid the first one, charged forward and avoided the second one by jumping over it. As soon as Sasuke landed on the ground he crouched slightly and disappeared in a blur, appearing in front of Zaku.

Sasuke reared back his fist and punched Zaku, who barely blocked the attack by forming an X with his arms, but the attack still made him take a step back. Zaku gritted his teeth and smirked, "Is that all?" A guy with a bandaged head, revealing only one eye, appeared behind Sasuke, "Don't get cocky." He said as he tried to punch Sasuke near his heart, but the sound of metal clashing resounded through the clearing, Dosu barely glanced up and saw the kunai, Sasuke previously threw, starting to hit one another in the air, changing their trajectories. All of the kunai then turned to Dosu and flew at him from all directions.

Dosu barely had the time to jump back, but his eyes widened when he felt sharp pain in his back, he looked down and saw blood drops on the ground beneath him, "Damn whats with this bastard." Sasuke smirked, drew back his fist and with a spin landed a kick with his heel on Zaku's chin, a kick so hard it almost lifted him off his feet, then Sasuke did another spin and kicked him in the ribs, sending him crashing into a tree.

Kin, the only girl in the sound team tried to do something, so she prepared her senbon with bells attached to them and threw them quickly at Sasuke, who ducked under the first few, sidestepped the second batch and took out a few shuriken with one quick move and threw them at the last of the senbon, knocking them out of the air. Kin stepped to the side just in time as the shuriken went past her head, chopping of some of her hair. As she looked back, she saw that Sasuke already in front of her.

He punched her in the ribs and did an elbow blow on her cheek with a spin on his heel, sending her rolling on the floor. Sasuke turned around with a smirk on his face just at the same time when Zaku shouted, " **Decapitating Airwaves Full Power.** " Two waves of air even bigger than before flew towards Sasuke at frightening speed, though Sasuke's smirk only became bigger as he looked up at Zaku with two red eyes, one tomoe in one and two tomoe in the other.

Sasuke jumped into the air and landed on a branch, upside down. With no time to waste he crouched and jumped at Zaku at full speed. Zaku could only stare with wide eyes as Sasuke appeared before him. The markings on Sasuke's body grew even darker and the amount of markings increased, Sasuke reared back his fist and punched Zaku on the chin, sending him into the air, Sasuke followed him into the air and with a spin landed an axe kick on Zaku's abdomen, sending him crashing into the ground, creating a small crater as he landed.

Sasuke extended his hand upwards and caught himself on a branch with one hand, just as Kin's senbon flew where he was supposed to fall. Then Sasuke swung his legs backwards, then forward and after creating enough momentum he let go of the branch and landed on a different tree just as Dosu destroyed the branch he was on. Sasuke looked up with with his sharingan glaring at Dosu, who was defenseless in the air. Sasuke crouched on the side of the tree and jumped with so much force, it created a small dent in the tree. He flew forward and punched Dosu in the gut, both of them falling to the ground and landing so roughly, that the dust picked up.

After the dust settled down it revealed Sasuke standing over an injured Dosu, "You won't dodge it at point blank, bastard. Don't underestimate me ever again. **Full Power Decapitating Airwaves**." Zaku screamed, standing just 4 steps behind Sasuke, his arms already creating the airwave. Sasuke didn't bother to look back, he stood there with a smirk on his face.

The airwaves left Zaku's arms and slowly traveled towards Sasuke, the other leaf ninja stared wide eyed at what was going to happen, they knew they wouldn't be able to stop the attack. Sasuke's smirk only became bigger, "You're slow." Suddenly an Ice Mirror formed itself from the air, blocking the attack.

Zaku stared wide eyed at the mirror, "What the fu-" He didn't finish his sentence as the reflection of Naruto appeared on the mirror, black demonic fang-like markings on his body, the bandages on his arms, messy and fallen off at some places, his hair covering his eyes, a black round image of a fox in a tribal pattern on his neck and Haku standing behind him in the mirror. Naruto looked up, his hair moving to the side, revealing one eye, instead of a blue eye it was replaced with a dark purple one, "Who the hell are y-" Zaku didn't finish his sentence as Naruto's bandaged arm shot out of the mirror and grabbed Zaku by his mouth. Slowly, Naruto moved his right hand to his mouth and extended one finger and pressed it to his lips, showing Zaku to keep quiet, "My head hurts, shut up."

Naruto slowly emerged from the mirror. As soon as his second leg came out of the mirror, chakra exploded out of Naruto, quickly surrounded his second leg and Naruto kicked Zaku in the gut, sending him crashing into and through a tree. Zaku was lying on the ground with wide eyes, "What th-" a glob of blood escaped his mouth and he fell unconscious. Then Naruto slowly looked towards Kin with a blank look in his eyes, she raised her hands in a signal she was giving up, "Wait a-" Naruto disappeared and appeared in front of her in a flash. Standing in front of her with his head tilted.

Kin started shaking from Naruto's immense and malicious chakra, "I-I g-giv-" She didn't finish her sentence as Naruto grabbed her by her mouth this time, "I told you to shut up, my head hurts." He looked at her with a blank look in his eyes. Sweat started pouring down her face. Naruto took one step behind her and reared back his hand with her head in it, preparing to smash her head into the tree behind them, but as Naruto looked down he saw a kunai on the ground. His image reflecting off it. He stared at it blankly for a few seconds, looking at how different he looked, " _Is that me?_ " He quietly thought in his head.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and let go of Kin's head. She fell on her knees, wide eyed and sweat pouring down the side of her face. Naruto started walking back towards the hollowed out tree, "Tired." As he took a few steps forward his knees gave out and he fell to the floor, face first. A small seal on the back of his neck stopped shinning and disappeared like it was never there. Naruto blankly stared at the kunai beside his face reflecting his image, as the purple color faded from his eyes and was replaced again with a blue color, then the blissful unconsciousness took him.

Some time later

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and saw the dark sky, which showed that it was night currently. A moon and stars were shinning in the endless darkness. What looked like damaged rooftops near the edge of his view, "Tired. I feel so tired. Where is the bed? No, wait… The chunin exam is in progress. I need to find strong opponents. I… I need to become stronger… I… I'm tired..." Naruto slowly said.

" **KILL** " A deep dark voice resounded in his head. Naruto's eyes widened, suddenly his view started braking apart, like a television losing signal. He slowly looked down, his eyes widened. Nothing but blood and destroyed buildings around him, "What… Is this?" Naruto tried to look to the side but he couldn't control his own body. His body started moving on it's own and slowly started shaking and looked down at his palms, smeared with blood. The deep dark laughter resounded in his head, " **YESSSS** " Slowly, Naruto grabbed his head, "No… I-I… Didn't want… to..." His vision started breaking apart again like a television losing signal, it blurred and blurred until it was nothing but a high pitched ringing sound. Naruto closed his eyes.

Reality

Naruto shot up from his bed, panting. He quickly looked around, seeing he was in the hollowed out trunk again. Naruto inhaled deeply and exhaled, to calm himself down, and looked at his palms, as clean as they could be in his situation, "A dream?" Naruto sighed as he looked around and saw no one else was here, only quiet voices coming from the outside. Naruto slowly stood up and walked out of the hollowed out trunk, there he saw Sasuke and Sakura sitting near a fire.

Sakura looked up at Naruto, "Ahh, are you alright? You shouldn't be moving around yet." Naruto raised one eyebrow, "Why?" Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances, "Well..." Sakura said uncertainly, "Do you remember what happened during the day?" She asked. Naruto glanced at her then at Sasuke, he looked like he started thinking about everything that happened, "Not really." Sakura sighed, "We were attacked." Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly, "Who? When?" Sakura shook her head, "Doesn't really matter anymore. You and Sasuke defeated them."

Naruto's eyes widened, then he glanced at Sasuke for confirmation, Sasuke only nodded, "We? I… Don't remember." Sakura looked like she didn't know what to say, "After both of you defeated them, you took a few steps and passed out. Its only been a few hours after the attack." Naruto stared at her, trying to remember anything that happened, " _All I remember are… That weird dream and a loud ringing in my ears._ " He thought in his head.

"Anyway, its not like we will move while its night. Your hand is broken and that happened not too long ago. You should rest up till the morning. We got the scroll we needed from the team that attacked us so we will go towards the tower in the morning." Sakura said, with a worrying voice. Naruto sighed, "Fine." He turned around and walked back to the hollowed out trunk.

The next morning the team moved to the tower and finished up their mission. After meeting up with Iruka they talked a little bit and then they were allowed to rest up as the exam finishes up.

Naruto's room.

Naruto walked to his room and walked in front of the mirror, then took off his top and the bandages on his left arm. His body looked completely fine, except for the injured arm, "Its healing slower than it normally would." Naruto said as he lightly touched his arm. His eyes caught a strange symbol on his neck. A round symbol of a fox in tribal style. He put his fingers on the mark, memories of Orochimaru started resurfacing, "That's right, that time Orochimaru did something to me. Sasuke also had a mark. Did he do the same to me?" He said as he looked at the mark.

Naruto sighed as walked back and sat down on his chair, various memories rushing to his head, "I did something I have no memories of. Could that be because Orochimaru did something to me? Even that dream…" Another surge of memories came rushing back, Naruto looking at his own reflection as his eyes changed color and he passed out, "Ugh" Naruto grabbed his head, "What the hell is going on."

Naruto sat in silence and finally sighed, "Forget it. No point in trying to figure out something I have no idea about. I will focus on my objective for now and eventually I will find out everything I need." Naruto said as he put his kimono top back on. After trying to move his left arm, pain shot through his arm, "This will be a hindrance if I have to fight any time soon." Naruto sighed and moved his hair out of the way, "Something is going to happen, I have to be ready." Naruto quietly said as he clenched his fist and narrowed his eyes, "I have to become stronger. There are too many opponents, whose strength I can't even fathom. No mistakes will be allowed."

The next day

Everyone stood in a large room, what looked like an arena. Everyone that passed were lined up and the Hokage was giving them a small speech about the next exam, "… So, I will now explain the rules of the third part of the exam. But before that, I have to say is that there are too many of you right now, so we will be having a preliminary round of the exam. You see, the third part of the exam is meant to test your abilities, while at the same time showing the public the potential you have. As you are now, we would take forever to show each and every one of you. So the preliminary round will be something to cut down on the numbers here. The rules are simple, all of you will be having one on one fights. Your opponents will be picked at random. Fight will all you have, if the victor is obvious, either the proctor of this exam or your sensei can end the fight. In that case, you will be disqualified. Now, Gekko Hayate, the proctor of this exam will step forward."

A sickly looking ninja stepped forward and after coughing a few times started speaking, "We will now begin the preliminary rounds, but before that, are there any of you here that would like to leave. If you can't fight for any reason you have the chance to withdraw now, otherwise you will have to participate in the battles." The genin started looking around and whispering to each other.

Naruto looked at his left arm, " _Damn… I have to fight sooner than I thought. I thought that the_ _y_ _would give us more time to rest before the final exam_." Naruto gritted his teeth, " _I have to fight, otherwise, I will only be running away again. I'm tired of running. I… want to be the one to win. With my own strength_."Naruto grabbed his left arm and gritted his teeth harder, " _But… If I fight now, there is a very big chance I will lose and will only worsen my injuries, I will have to wait even longer to continue my training. But if I win as I am now… What do I do? What is the correct choice here?_ " A small pain shot through Naruto's body from his neck. He grabbed his neck, " _Damn, there is also Orochimaru's seal. I have no idea what it does._ "

Naruto never felt the stare from Ayami directed at him, "Whats wrong with senpai? He looks… Like he is in pain." Kagami looked at the direction Ayami was looking at and glanced at Naruto, "Don't worry, its senpai we are talking about. How would he drop out if we haven't faced each other yet." Akame gave him a blank look, "You really are an idiot." She said with a sigh, "Maybe senpai got a few injuries that could be a problem for him. As strong as he is, even he isn't invincible." Kagami glanced at Akame then back at Naruto, "Maybe. He isn't invincible but he isn't weak." Akame sighed again then looked at Ayami, "Though, for him to make such a face, the injury isn't light most likely." Ayami put her hands together, "I won't forgive him. We finally meet again and he will drop out just like that? There is no way. If he does, I… I will beat him up so much that he won't have time to worry about a small injury." Ayami said with fire in her eyes. Akame only sighed, "Right, right."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and bit his lip, "I withdraw." A man with gray hair and a ponytail raised his hand, "I am low on chakra so I wouldn't be able to fight." Hayate nodded his head, "Name?" "Kabuto Yakushi." Hayate wrote down something on a clipboard, "Alright, please leave the arena." Kabuto put on a smile and walked towards the exit.

Naruto looked down, "Damn." He grabbed his neck even tighter, "What do I do? Should I risk it or no?" Memories started rushing to his head again, " _Black Hand fighting rules nr3: never fight if the risk outweighs the reward, if possible_." Naruto sighed and unclenched his fist, " _Damn, even if I don't like it… Its true. I will have plenty of opportunities in the future, no point in risking serious injuries for a chance that might not happen_." Naruto, reluctantly raised his hand with a frown, "Naruto Uzumaki, my left arm is broken, I can't fight." Hayate nodded his and Naruto turned away and started walking out of the arena, ignoring the surprised glances from those who know him. Naruto gritted his teeth and clenched his right fist tightly.

In the next room.

It was a spacious but dark area filled with pillars. Naruto slowly walked forward then turned on his heel and punched one pillar with his right fist, "DAMN IT!" Naruto yelled, "Its frustrating. Its so god damn frustrating. I haven't done what I came here to do. No, it only got worse. Its so, god damn frustrating being so pathetic, its like nothing has changed." Naruto reared back his fist and punched the pillar repeatedly, until his fist started bleeding and he started panting. Naruto took a few steps forward and smashed his forehead against the pillar, "Just what on earth do I have to do to escape this curse. Somebody please tell me." Naruto gritted his teeth as hard as he could.

After a minute Naruto sighed and stood up straight, "No, I don't need anybody to tell me what I have to do. Its been clear to me from the beginning. I simply have to become stronger. All of them… Orochimaru, Zabuza, Hokage… Each and every one of them didn't become strong after a few days. I will train, I will become stronger." Naruto clenched his fist, "No point in standing here, I won't become stronger by bashing my head against a pillar." Naruto inhaled deeply and exhaled, determination shinning in his eyes again. He started walking towards the exit.

After walking for a while Naruto heard somebody talking, instinct kicking in Naruto hid behind a pillar and suppressed his chakra. Silently getting closer to the voices, "Yes, master. Everything is proceeding according to plan." Naruto stopped when he heard the voices, "Kuku, excellent. Now, its only a matter of time until I crush Konoha." Naruto's eyes widened, " _Trying to crush Konoha? I don't particularly care, but what kind of moron would take on the strongest ninja village?_ "

"You did a good job, Kabuto. Though you should be careful from now on. Konoha will be on full alert for the final part of the exam. We wouldn't want our plans exposed at the last second." Came the voice of the unknown person, " _Kabuto? The guy who left before me? Isn't he a leaf genin? No, perhaps he is a sellout or a spy._ " Kabuto smirked and pushed up his glasses, "Please rest assured. The leaf ninja or so stupid that getting around is easier than stealing candy from a baby. Honestly, I this is so easy I am getting bored, no challenge at all. I smuggled in so many sound ninja that I don't know where to hide them anymore." The unknown person chuckled, "Good to know. Now then, you should hurry up and go. We wouldn't want people getting suspicious. I will await your next report, when you finish the preparations." Kabuto smirked and bowed, "Understood, Orochimaru-sama." Naruto's eyes widened, " _Orochimaru? Why is that bastard here? No, more importantly, most of Konoha's top ninjas are here including the Hokage. How is he going around without being noticed_? _Is it a forbidden jutsu?_ "

"Well then, stay safe, Master." Kabuto turned around and started leaving, "Oh, Kabuto." Orochimaru called out. Kabuto stopped and turned his head, "While you are on your way out. Would you mind dealing with our little mouse here? He seems to have heard more than he should have."Kabuto smirked and pushed up his glasses, "Oh my, and here I thought you were going to let him go. You let him listen on purpose so I would kill him when he knows everything. Then die in despair, knowing he won't save his village. You truly are cruel, Master." Orochimaru chuckled, "Oh please, you shouldn't think so deeply about it. I noticed him just now." Kabuto pushed up his glasses "As you say, Orochimaru-sama. Well then, little rat, will you come out on your own or shall I come to you?"

Naruto gritted his teeth, " _Damn it, there is no way I can beat them as I am now. But I have to play along for now, maybe I will get an opening._ " He stopped concealing his chakra and walked out in the open. Orochimaru smiled, "Well now, isn't this a pleasant surprise. Who would've guessed we would meet so soon, Naruto. Maybe we are bound by fate." Naruto frowned, Orochimaru chuckled in response, "Well, you had enough time to think about it. Have you changed your mind? Its not too late to join me. Also, how did you enjoy your present?" Naruto's eyes widened, "What is this exactly?" Naruto pointed to his seal.

"Its what I call the Cursed Seal of Heaven. Its a seal I created on my own. Its a special seal that grants the user a boost in power. I only give it to special people I personally choose. How about it, you liked it? I can even increase its power if you come to me. You will be invincible." Kabuto fixed his glasses, "Oh my, Orochimaru-sama, you know this person?" he asked. Orochimaru put on a thinking pose, "Well, he is a potential comrade. If he agrees that is."

Naruto grimaced, "So its either I join you and gain what I want or I refuse and die?" Naruto asked. Orochimaru chuckled, "No, nothing like that. I wouldn't stoop so low as to use threats." Naruto clenched his teeth, " _Yeah, I could get a lot of power if I came with him. But at what cost? This guys is the most infamous Missing-nin alive. There is no way he would come to me and just give me power like that. This deal is too dangerous. However, I will be disposed of if I disagree."_ Orochimaru sighed, "I am surely hated, aren't I?" Kabuto smirked, "Then how about I give him some motivation?" Orochimaru nodded his head with a smile, "And you call me cruel. Do as you like."

Chakra surrounded Kabuto's hands and formed a scalpel, the next second Kabuto dashed at Naruto. Gritting his teeth, Naruto stepped to the side to avoid the first blow, ducked under the second and did a back handspring to avoid the third. A knife fell out from Naruto's sleeves into his hand, he switched into a reverse grip and slashed at Kabuto's hand, who jumped to the side to avoid the slash, "Oh, that was close." He said with a smile. This time, Naruto charged, " _Judging from his technique and from his talk earlier. He is a medic nin and a spy at the same time. His forte isn't direct combat so I have the upper hand. I can't let him have the time to_ _create a_ _strateg_ _y_ _._ "

Naruto started slashing at Kabuto with perfect accuracy, the seals on the knife lighting up and small currents of electricity running through the blade. Naruto slashed again, Kabuto dodged the attack with a step to the side and extended his hand towards Naruto's leg, " _This damn arm is in the way._ " Naruto thought in his head, as he tossed the knife in the air and did a fast cartwheel to the side, as soon as he stood up he caught the knife, switched it into a forward grip and slashed at Kabuto's throat. Kabuto grimaced slightly, took out a kunai and blocked the attack at the last second, the electricity already climbing to his neck, like dozens of hands reaching out to strangle him, "That was close." Naruto heard a chuckle from behind, "Careful, Kabuto. Unlike you, he can fight whether its while hiding or direct combat. If you underestimate him, you will die."

Kabuto broke the locked blades apart and jumped back, "Sounds like that came from experience." Orochimaru smiled, "Did you say something?" Kabuto smirked, "No, not a thing." Naruto switched the blade back into a reverse grip, charged again and slashed at Kabuto's waist, he dodged the attack by pulling his waist backwards with a small step, then he slashed at Naruto's arm. Naruto switched the knife back into a forward grip and they locked blades again. Kabuto chuckled, "Is that all?" He spun on his heel throwing Naruto's arms to the side and kicked him in the face, sending him rolling on the ground.

Naruto immediately stood up and blocked another kunai attack, Kabuto didn't stop and kneed Naruto in the gut and used his second hand to smash his head into a pillar, "I am disappointed. Orochimaru-sama, are you sure you aren't mistaking him for the person's you fought weak young brother?" Orochimaru chuckled, "Careful, if you look away, you will die." Kabuto looked back and saw Naruto glaring at Kabuto from behind his hand, "Oh my, what a fierce glare. But if you want to blame anyone blame your own weakness. Orochimaru-sama, is it fine if I dispose of him?"

Naruto's eyes widened, a small ringing in his ears started again, distant voices calling out, "Get him." started repeating themselves. An image flashed in Naruto's head again, a blurry image of villagers standing before him yelling, "Get him." The vision blurred like a TV losing signal again, "What's this? Memories? Whose? Are these… Mine?" Naruto thought in his head. The image appeared again, the group of people grabbed baseball bats, metal pipes, anything they could find, "He is becoming too dangerous! This bastard is turning into the.." A loud ringing sound resounded in Naruto's ears, "Gah" Naruto screamed and unconsciously kicked Kabuto in the gut sending him tumbling on the ground, "What the?" Dark chakra surrounded Naruto. A small seal appeared on the back of Naruto's head again.

"If it goes on like this the… Will become free again. We have to put this dangerous beast down!" One of the villagers yelled. Naruto grabbed his head, "Who will become free? What is this?" The group started slowly walking towards Naruto, the vision blurred out again and appeared, disappearing and appearing again. An incredibly sharp, high pitched ringing began all of a sudden in Naruto's ears, "What the hell is this? What is happening to me?" The ringing stopped and it was silent only one soft voice, "Demon." Naruto's eyes widened. He gritted his teeth, "I am… I am not..." Kabuto fixed his glasses and observed Naruto carefully, "Not… A… Demon. I am Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto yelled and unleashed a wave of dark chakra. His eyes turning dark purple, the seal reacting and demonic fang-like markings spread out across Naruto's body.

Naruto glared at Kabuto, "I am not a demon." he said quietly. Kabuto grimaced, "Is he alright in the head?" Orochimaru chuckled, "This is a side effect." Kabuto seemed confused, "A side effect of a fool screwing up." Orochimaru said with a dark smirk, "Now, I am going to use this side effect to my advantage." Orochimaru said while licking his lips. Naruto disappeared in a blur and appeared before Kabuto.

Naruto reared back his fist and puched Kabuto, but he leaned to the side at the last second, dodging the fist, his smirk in place. Naruto's fist passed by Kabuto and smashed into a pillar behind him, as soon as the fist hit the pillar cracks started spreading on it and the place it was hit in collapsed. Kabuto's eyes widened and he immediately jumped back, "Orochimaru-sama, if I didn't know better. I would say you are trying to kill me." Orochimaru just chuckled in response, "No way. I am trying to jerk up Naruto's memories. Now, awaken them. The memories of your past self and destroy the seal placed on you."

Naruto's eyes turned into an even deeper purple, he roared and charged at Kabuto. He punched him once, Kabuto avoided with a step back, Naruto punched again, this time Kabuto ducked. Naruto jumped into the air and with a spin tried to kick Kabuto in the head. The attack was too fast and Kabuto could only bring up his arms to the side to blocked, the attack hit him and the force was so big it started pushing him backwards and sending him flying into a pillar and breaking it apart.

Memories rushed into Naruto's mind again, "But the Hokage will become furious if he hears that we did it." One man said. Another man walked up to him and grabbed him by his collar, "Are you stupid? Who are you more afraid of? The hokage or the demon…?" He said as he pointed his metal pipe at Naruto, "Wrong. I am not a demon." The other villagers yelling in agreement, "We put up with him for long enough. I believed in the Fourth's seal, but lately the brat is going out of control. At this rate the demon… Will be set free again." Naruto grabbed his head, "Who will be set free? What am I? No, I am Naruto Uzumaki. A human."

Naruto glared at Orochimaru, "What are you doing to me?" Orochimaru chuckled in response, "Nothing. I am merely setting you free. Now, you need more motivation. Tap into more power of the seal and see your past with your own eyes. See just how Konoha has wronged you. What unforgivable mistake they made." Orochimaru snapped his fingers and a few sound ninja jumped out into the open.

They prepared their kunai and charged at Naruto. His chakra became more potent, "No, this must be one of his forbidden techniques or the seal that's messing with me. I have to get away." Naruto dashed to the side at high speed. Slid beneath one attack, stood up from the slide and did a front flip over another ninja and landed on the side of a pillar. Quickly he jumped from pillar to pillar in high speed.

"After him. If he gets away, you won't see tomorrow." Orochimaru said. The ninja nodded their heads and dashed after Naruto. Orochimaru turned to the pillar Kabuto was smashed into, "Get up now. It wasn't so bad." A small chuckle came from the pillar, "You should try receiving that kick yourself." Orochimaru chuckled, "Why? That's why I have you here." Kabuto stood up and dusted his clothes off, "Anyway, what was that? Has he started breaking down and going insane?" Orochimaru chuckled, "No, not even close. Its just that my old and foolish teacher created a man made demon and sealed him withing the boy. So, the boy has a difficult time keeping his mind intact." Kabuto raised one eyebrow, "I don't really understand."

Orochimaru laughed, "You see, there is a seal on Naruto. Inside that seal there is a demon sealed but as long as it wasn't touched it won't react or do anything. So my best option is to make Naruto unconsciously draw upon the energy of the seal and to set the demon free." Kabuto cleaned his glasses and put them on again, "Are you referring to the Nine tailed fox?" Orochimaru shook his head, "No, there is that. But I just said 'A man made' demon." Orochimaru chuckled, "You see Naruto has two demons sealed inside him. The Nine Tailed Fox and a demon which was created by my foolish sensei. A few years ago..."

With Naruto.

Naruto dashed through the forest at high speed. A ringing in his ears started again, Naruto grabbed his head with one hand, "Damn it, again?" An image started showing itself again. The same place, the shinning moon, blood and destroyed buildings. The person was looking at his own bloody hands, "No, I didn't mean to. I-I j-just… Wanted them to stop. Why did this happen?" The vision blurred again, but this time water started falling on the person's palms, " _Is he crying?_ " Naruto asked as the ringing became more intense. Sob, Sob, "Why?" The person hit himself on the head, "I hate it." He hit himself on the head again, "Why me? What did I do? Am I really a demon? Nothing but an abomination." The person looked up and saw that Sarutobi was standing there, in his battle armor, his anbu guard around him. Sarutobi stared wide eyed at the person, "You..." The person looked up at Sarutobi with a sob, "WHAT? WHAT AM I? TELL ME? Are you also going to call me a demon? I mean, what kind of person could do this? Its obvious I am demon. I was born a demon. I will always be a demon. The person known as..." The boy literally started seeing red, at that moment the image faded again. Naruto looked up through narrowed eyes, "Just what happened?"

The malicious chakra combined with the cursed seal was crashing in Naruto's body, "Damn it, such intense chakra. I feel like I will lose my mind. I can't give up." Naruto heard shouts behind him and saw sound ninja slowly catching up to him. Naruto took out a scroll and kept it in his hand, just in case. The ninja finally got closer and started throwing shuriken and kunai one after another. Naruto gritted his teeth and jumped off a branch, while opening the scroll in his hand. With a cloud of smoke Haku appeared and while Naruto was running Haku was flying around him, blocking all the projectiles.

After a while, after the ninja were close to Naruto, he landed on a branch, quickly turned around on his heel and jumped towards the ninja, passing them by. While all of the ninja's attention was diverted to Naruto, Haku quickly flew towards one ninja showered him with poisoned senbon, killing him, the poison made sure. Haku flew through the ninja and in front of Naruto. He jumped down from the branches to the ground, the ninja immediately followed him.

While falling Naruto took out another scroll and while turning around activated it and threw it into the air. Dozens bottles of water appeared from the scroll. Haku opened his palms towards the bottle and channeled some chakra. The bottles exploded in the air and then the water flowed into and shaped two massive Demon Wind Shuriken made from ice. The shuriken started spinning in the air and flew towards the ninja. Surprised, two less experienced ninja couldn't dodge the attack and were cut in half by the shuriken. In response the two surviving ninja went through some hand seals, " **Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique**." A fireball came out of the mouth of the first one, " **Wind Release: Great Breakthrough** " The wind and fire jutsu merged and unleashed a massive wave of fire towards Naruto.

Naruto landed on the ground and moved Haku in front of him. Haku started channeling chakra again and ice started forming around them. The fire smashed into the ground where Naruto was. The two ninja jumped around the place where Naruto was and waited for the smoke to clear out. After the smoke cleared Naruto and Haku were standing in the middle, completely fine, traces of melted ice around them, " **Ice** **Release: Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness** " Naruto said quietly.

The two ninja charged again. Naruto dodged a kunai slash, with a cartwheel around the enemy while using his second arm to control Haku to clash with the second ninja. Naruto landed on his feet and jumped up and with a spin kicked the ninja in the face, sending him flying on his back. Haku jumped back and started showering the enemy with senbon while flying around him at high speed. The enemy started dodging the senbon, but some of them still grazed him.

"GAH!" He heard behind him. The ninja looked back and saw that his friendly ninja was behind him and that the senbon hit him instead, "Shit!" As he looked back forward he barely blocked Haku's kick. Naruto appeared behind and kicked him in the head, making him take a few steps to the side. As he turned back around Naruto was already there and kicked him the gut, sending him flying. As he was flying backwards Haku appeared above him and did an axe kick, crashing him into the ground. Haku then jumped up and showered the ninja with senbon.

Naruto started panting and his right knee gave out, making him fall to the ground. Three more ninjas landed in front of Naruto after a few seconds. Naruto stood back up and wiped off the sweat from his forehead. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled, while attaching the strings to Haku.

The three ninjas separated and did a pincer attack. Naruto gritted his teeth, " _Damn, even with the adrenaline rush my arm still hurts. Its seriously hard to use it_." Naruto jumped back on to a branch and made Haku fly forward and clash with the ninja. One ninja from the side did an axe kick and broke the branch Naruto was standing on top of, but Naruto made it just in time to dodge the attack and jumped to a different branch. As soon as Naruto landed he had to jump back again, as the second ninja immediately smashed the branch, Naruto moved his fingers and Haku flew back, showering the enemies with senbon from behind.

The two ninja jumped to separate sides and did another pincer attack on Naruto. Naruto gritted his teeth and quickly created one shadow clone and made him take over Haku, while Naruto jumped back, barely avoiding an attack again. Just as Naruto was in the air again the second ninja appeared above him and kicked Naruto in the gut, sending him crashing into the ground. Naruto flew through the trees and into an opening, crashing into water. Naruto stood up and looked around, he saw that he was in a small lake in the middle of the forest.

Just as Naruto looked back one of the ninjas landed in front of him and punched him in the gut, sending him flying even deeper into the lake. Naruto sent chakra to his feet and with a flip landed in a crouch, sliding across the surface of the water. As pain shot through his stomach Naruto grabbed his stomach and coughed up some blood, gritted his teeth and unsealed Crow King. The two ninjas did another pincer attack on Naruto. Crow in response started shooting out spikes like a rifle.

The two ninja danced around the spikes, while closing in on Naruto. Just as they were a few steps away from him miniature crows shot out of Crow's cloak. Explosions rocked the waters, creating big waves and a shower of water. When the water was falling back down the two ninja jumped from the smoke and continued with their pincer attack, but chains quickly shot out of the water, though one of them managed to dodge the attack the other wasn't so lucky and was impaled.

The first one wasn't even fazed by the death of his comrade and stepped around the chains and started running towards Naruto again, throwing shuriken and kunai one after another. Crow took out his katana and started blocking the attacks but one after another they started getting past Crow's defense and hitting him. Naruto moved his fingers and Crow flew forward and clashed with the ninja.

The ninja loosened his arms and moved them to the side, making Crow fall to the side, then with a spin kicked Crow in the torso, crushing through the wall of miniature crows and sending Crow flying. Then the ninja went through some hand seals, " **Fire Relase: Great Fireball Technique** " The fireball traveled towards Crow. Naruto bit his lip and knowing he couldn't do anything he shot out as much of the spikes from Crow's wings as he could and threw his sword into the air. The spikes traveled through the fire and only half of them emerged from it and continued towards the ninja. The ninja dodged a few but a couple still grazed him, some lightly, others a little deeper.

The fireball engulfed Crow and an explosion, blasted it to pieces. A shower of water started falling down from the massive explosion. Naruto looked up to the air and caught the katana just as it was falling. Naruto started panting heavily, " _Damn the injuries and exhaustion is piling up. I don't think I will be able to hold on to my sanity if this goes on. The seal will take over if I won't finish this fast enough_. "

Naruto prepared the katana in one hand and dashed forward across the water, the ninja followed him and they clashed in the middle, creating a small shockwave from the collision. A violent exchange began between Naruto and the ninja. Both of them dancing around each others attack and trying to end this in one attack. Though it was obvious the poison from Crow's spikes was starting affect the ninja, but Naruto was faring no better. His vision was blurring, his body was getting heavier and it was getting harder to keep the seal at bay.

The ninja started landing a few cuts and blows, Naruto's attire was already torn apart, the kimono top was already untied and hanging loosely, blood pouring out of his wounds from the many cuts on his body. Naruto already looked like a bloody mess from all the damage he sustained.

The two clashed and locked blades again. Naruto's katana was starting to get chipped from all the exchanges and the ninja had to already replace a few kunai. Naruto called on all of his chakra and started pushing the ninja, but he was barely giving any ground. Then, Naruto stopped pushing and immediately jumped back, making the ninja lose his balance and lunge forward from the amount of strength he used. Naruto landed on the ground, took one step forward and with a drawing motion of the sword slashed at the ninja, but he sacrificed his right arm, he dropped the kunai, knowing he won't block it and caught the blade barehanded, his hand was almost cut off but the ninja endured and decided to pull back so he used Naruto's body as a spring to jump back.

Naruto took a few steps from the amount of strength the ninja put in. But he gritted his teeth and forced his body forward, he reared back his entire arm with the katana and threw the katana. The katana started flying and spinning so fast that it seemed like black, flat disk was flying at the ninja. The ninja couldn't dodge the attack so he used his already injured hand to block it, though he had to pay for it dearly, as the attack cut off his arm just below the elbow.

The ninja screamed in pain, as blood started pouring down to the water below him, in what looked like an endless stream. The ninja gritted his teeth took out a kunai into his uninjured hand and dashed at Naruto. Just as the ninja was near Naruto he was surprised as Naruto raised one of his hands and visible chakra threads shot out from his fingers and into something above. He looked up and saw Haku flying towards him in top speed from the air, though he was slightly damaged and Haku's performance had dropped, it was nothing beyond repair. Haku extended his hands and channeled chakra, just as he landed on the water big Demon Wind Shuriken started forming out of the water. The chakra around Naruto was visible, showing just how much chakra he was pouring into creating the shuriken.

One after another they started spinning and dozens of them started flying at the ninja, just as one flew off another started forming in its places and flew off again. Naruto pumped as much chakra into the jutsu as he could and bombarded the ninja with shuriken. The ninja hand no chance as the injuries piled up and after he dodged a few, the other started creating deeper injuries and eventually the onslaught of shuriken tore the ninja apart.

Just as the ninja fell into the water, Naruto sank into water and barely caught himself below the water, using his chakra to keep himself from sinking entirely. Naruto started panting and coughing up blood.

Naruto weakly looked up just Orochimaru and Kabuto landed in front of him. Orochimaru clapped his hands, "I am impressed. You really are something. However..." Orochimaru snapped his fingers and the sound four landed around Naruto. All of them with confident faces and smirks. Tayuya snorted, "Orochimaru-sama, no offense. But we are supposed to beat him up?" She said as she pointed at Naruto, "He looks like he will die even if we leave him alone." Orochimaru chuckled, "Doesn't matter. Let him have it."

All of them smirked, "As you command." some of them cracked their knuckles. Kabuto sighed from the side, "Isn't that a little too much?" Orochimaru shook his head, "No, it needs to be at least so much." The sound four attacked Naruto, he couldn't even resist the attacks as he was exhausted and beyond his limit. The four started beating him mercilessly, without holding back. Naruto could already hear his bones breaking from the heavy and numerous attacks.

His blurry vision couldn't tell what was happening, his tired body could barely feel the pain and his clouded mind couldn't form a single thought. Naruto was so tired and the only thing he heard was the sound of his own bones breaking and his heartbeat.

" **Use my power.** " A deep dark voice resounded in Naruto's head, "Who? And… Why does this phrase… Sound so familiar. Like I heard it so many times before." The was nothing but silence for a while. Everything was swallowed by pure darkness. Naruto looked around blankly, "Hell?" A small chuckle resounded from the endless darkness, " **Nothing like it**."

Naruto looked to the side, from the darkness two red eyes with slits manifested, followed by a massive grin, " **So, you have started remembering… But it is not enough**." Naruto stared blankly at the massive faceless demon. He heard a massive pounding on the door. He looked to the side and saw the red door that he saw before. But, unlike before, now it was cracked, some of the chains were on the ground and someone was pounding on the other side, trying to get out.

Naruto glanced to the demon again, it only kept its grin, " **Go on** " Naruto slowly started walking towards the door, another massive hit on the door and a chain flew off and landed beside Naruto. As Naruto was walking near the door, the ringing in his ears appeared again, the closer he got the louder it became. Along the way small images would appeared and disappeared just as quickly as they left. Naruto walked up to the door, the ringing became so intense that he had to cover his ears. Slowly, Naruto raised one tired hand and planted it on the seal on the door. A purple light illuminated the endless darkness around him and surrounded Naruto, swallowing him, making Naruto cover his eyes.

Naruto moved his arms and saw that he was standing in an empty street in what looked like Konoha. Naruto looked around, "This place… Is the same one as the images." Naruto quickly turned around when he heard shout, "Get him!; Grab the demon!" Just as Naruto turned around a small boy, very young, ran into him. But the strange things was that the boy didn't collide with him, he just ran through Naruto, like he was a ghost. Naruto just stood there, confused. He looked up when he saw a large crowd running through the street and just like the boy they ran past him like he was a ghost.

"We have you cornered now, demon." One of the villagers yelled. Naruto turned around, but his view was blocked by the crowd. He walked to the side where there were fewer people and saw the boy standing there. Naruto's eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the boy. Golden hair, blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek, "That is… me?" Naruto asked as he stared at the boy, a spitting image of how he used to look when he was younger.

The boy stood there, his back to a wall. One of the villagers walked to the front, "We will dispose of this demon now, before the real demon emerges." Naruto immediately caught the words 'the real demon emerges', "What do you mean?" he asked, but he got no response. No one even glanced at him, as if he was a ghost, only being able to look at things, never meant to interrupt or change anything.

The younger Naruto looked through the crowd, "How is this my fault? He was the one who bumped into me." He yelled. One of the villagers looked at him with a glare, "You might not be at fault, but there is something inside you and its obvious its going to posses you soon. We won't let that beast rampage here again and take our loved ones!" He yelled, the other yelled in agreement.

The boy seemed confused, "Huh? Nothing is going to posses me. Why won't you just leave me alone!" He yelled again. One of the villagers scoffed, "Yeah right, what about you turning so violent recently. Just like an incarnation of a demon." The young Naruto's eyes widened, "I-I'm not a demon! I… I am Naruto Uzumaki, a human!" The older's Naruto's eyes widened, "No mistake, he is me. But… What do they mean? Its obviously just one big misunderstanding. And… Why do I have no memories of this?" He asked.

"But the Hokage will become furious if he hears that we did it." One man said. Another man walked up to him and grabbed him by his collar, "Are you stupid? Who are you more afraid of? The hokage or the demon…?" He said as he pointed his metal pipe at the younger Naruto. The other villagers yelling in agreement, "We put up with him for long enough. I believed in the Fourth's seal, but lately the brat is going out of control. At this rate the demon… Will be set free again." Naruto grabbed his head, "Why can't I hear what they are saying? Just what is inside me?"

One villager turned to Naruto, "Sorry, kid. Nothing personal, you aren't at fault, its the demon inside you. but I can't let my family experience that tragedy again." He said as he looked at Naruto with terrified eyes, "Please forgive me and die quickly, without suffering." He swung his metal bat and hit the younger Naruto in the gut. Another villager came up and also hit him, then another, until everyone joined in. The younger Naruto sobbed, cried and screamed but everyone put on faces like they were the ones suffering and continued. The older Naruto just stood there frozen, "H- Hey, wait a sec… Th- that's just a kid. HEY, I said wait one god damn second! What the fuck are you doing to a child!" Naruto yelled and tried to push them away, but his hand phased through the villagers, "Will you wait one fucking second. This is only one big misunderstanding!" The older Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Why are you the ones with those faces, like you are the ones suffering. Just what the fuck do you know about me? What in god fucking damn it are you doing? I said stop!" The older Naruto yelled as he tried to protect his younger self, but he couldn't stop anything. His every attempt was shrugged off like nothing. Only the realization that he could only stand and watch the terrifying scene, with wide eyes came to him. A scene like out of a nightmare, "What the fuck...Wipe those god damn looks off your faces, why do you look like you are being hurt. You are not the ones being beaten up over your fucked up delusions, you fucking assholes!" Naruto yelled.

Suddenly, Naruto heard a voice, " **Use my power and you won't be hurt anymore.** " Naruto looked around to see where it came from, "That voice..." Red chakra started surrounding the younger Naruto. The older Naruto could only stare at it with a horrified face, "What… is that?"

One of the villagers started beating harder and faster, "Ahh! Its emerging. The demon is coming out. Put your backs into it and kill him!" He screamed with a terrified face. The younger child stood up with a roar that knocked away all of the villagers. The older Naruto simply stared at his younger self, who was engulfed in red bubbling chakra, it formed the outline of what looked like a fox with one tail. With blood red eyes the boy stared at the villagers and after unleashing a ferocious roar he charged forward, slaughtering everyone. Ripping them limb from limb, tearing their hearts out and beheading them.

Naruto could stare at this nightmare, "Enough..." But it didn't stop. The boy kept on massacring the people, "I said enough." The older Naruto grabbed his younger self's shoulders but he phased through him again.

After a while only the two Narutos were standing there. He looked at his younger self with pity and sadness written all over his face, "What the hell." Sob. Naruto looked up and saw his younger self looking at his palms and crying, tears falling down on his small bloody hands, "No... I didn't mean to. I-I j-just… Wanted them to stop. Why did this happen?" Another few sobs, "Why?" the young Naruto hit himself on the head, "I hate it." He hit himself on the head again, "Why me? What did I do? Am I really a demon? Nothing but an abomination. I am nothing but a monster." The boy started hitting himself on the head repeatedly, "Whats the point in me living. I don't want to live… I want to die… Someone please kill me." The boy collapsed to his knees, as he fell, blood splattered to every side and the boy started bawling his eyes out, "Mommy… I want my mommy..." He stopped and after a realization hit him that he was all alone and had no one to rely on he started bawling his eyes out even harder.

A few tears rolled down the elder Naruto's cheeks and he slowly walked towards his younger self, dragging his feet with no energy he almost tripped on himself a few times. As he came closer he collapsed to his knees, "I'm... sorry. I'm sorry... for being unable to protect you. Please… I beg of you... Forgive me." Naruto hugged the small boy in the middle of this nightmare. The boy started crying even louder and harder, as if he heard his voice and felt the hug.

The older Naruto looked up and saw that Sarutobi was standing there, in his battle armor, his anbu guard around him, "You..." Younger Naruto looked up at Sarutobi with a sob, "WHAT? WHAT AM I? TELL ME? Are you also going to call me a demon? I mean, what kind of person could do this? Its obvious I am demon. I was born a demon, I am a demon and will always be a demon. The person known as Naruto Uzumaki never existed. There is only this ugly demon here." The boy screamed. Sarutobi's face fell and it looked like he grew older at least by a dozen years, "Naruto, you are no demon. You are a human."

The younger Naruto looked at Sarutobi like he said the lamest joke of the century, then the boy started laughing through his tears, "If I am human, then why did this happen? Could any human do this? Can any kid in Konoha do what I just did?" Naruto stood up as the chakra engulfed him again, the amount of tails started slowly multiplying, "Don't act like you know anything about me." He charged at Sarutobi. His eyes became blood red.

The older Naruto tried to grab the younger one, "Wait!" But he couldn't do anything again. The boy appeared in front of Sarutobi, he just stepped to the side and delivered a quick chop to the back of his neck, applied a youkai suppressing seal on his forehead and quickly caught him before he fell to the ground. Sarutobi then hugged Naruto, "I failed. I failed so miserably. To drive an innocent child to this point. I am a failure as a leader, no, I am a failure as a human being. I can never earn your forgiveness, but if you have to blame anyone, blame me for being weak and powerless." Sarutobi picked up Naruto, "Anbu, deal with this. I will take care of Naruto."

The scenery shifted and it showed a dark room. Sarutobi was standing there, with a couple of people with expensive looking kimono, "Lets begin the sealing." Naruto looked to the side with a blank look and saw his younger self laid down in the middle of a big sealing array. All of the men in the room started going through hand seals then pressed their hands to the sealing array. It immediately lit up and after a few seconds the younger Naruto started screaming and thrashing around. Blue chakra rose from Naruto's body slightly and took a shape just like Naruto.

After they applied more chakra to the array the blue chakra from Naruto started rising higher, but it looked like and sounded like it was being ripped from Naruto. The older Naruto simply stared at it with blank eyes. The younger Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs, as if his very soul was being ripped away from him, though that was what it looked like. Naruto noticed that a part of his chakra/ soul, had a very big red stain on it, different from the normal blue.

Sarutobi walked to the middle and planted his hands on the array, a chain of letters climber up on Sarutobi's arms and he grabbed the red part on Naruto's chakra/soul and started ripping it out. Naruto's eyes widened, "Seriously?… They even took away my soul?" Naruto grabbed his heart. Sarutobi finally ripped away the red part and after chanting something for a few minutes he created a seal on the back of Naruto's neck and transferred the red part there, along with the letters from his hands.

After everything ended Naruto was on the ground, sleeping. Everyone else was panting, "Naruto's very soul became tainted by the demon fox. We had no choice but to seal away the tainted part so it wouldn't spread out and take over Naruto. Everything that happened here will stay in this room, understood?" Sarutobi said in a harsh tone. Everyone else couldn't answer back because they were exhausted so they simply nodded their heads.

"The demon fox." Naruto tied to together the pieces, "I see… So I have the Kyuubi no Yoko sealed inside me." Naruto remembered the black being inside him, "Then that thing is the Kyuubi and those doors seal away the tainted part of my soul." Naruto looked up and smiled, then he started laughing, "What the fuck… So it was all nothing but a big misunderstanding. The villagers always punched and kicked me, but when I reached my breaking point and started fighting back they thought I was taken over by the Kyuubi, so in fear, they came together in order to eliminate a potential threat? How fucking stupid can this get?" Naruto looked at his sleeping younger self.

Slowly, Naruto walked towards his younger self, got on his knees, took off the top of his kimono and covered his sleeping self with it, "Rest... From now on I will protect you, I promise. I won't let you experience that nightmare again. So, rest up… And leave our future in my hands." naruto said as he gently stroked his younger self's hair, though it phased through. Naruto stood up and flared his chakra, breaking the memories.

During Naruto's memory traveling, Reality.

Naruto was floating in the middle of the lake, all bloody and beaten up. Tayuya sighed, "What the? Its already over? Orochimaru-sama could you give us tougher opponents? You could leave this job to the lower ranked ones." Orochimaru chuckled, "Simply watch. From now, you will get your tough opponent." All of them were confused and looked at Naruto's body. Kabuto glanced at Orochimaru, "Meaning?" he asked in a whisper. Orochimaru chuckled, "Its obvious Naruto will now leave the wheel for a while. He will have to deal with his inner problems. So, who will be there to hold back all those raging emotions and the numerous demons inside him?" Kabuto's eyes widened, "So, that means, that one of the demons inside him will take control?"

Orochimaru smiled, "Well now, I wonder about that myself. Its only a theory after all." Suddenly, a beam of dark chakra shot out of Naruto's body, so potent it obscured him from view, "What the fuck?" Tayuya shouted. The chakra settled down and its showed Naruto standing in the middle of the lake. Ukon swallowed his saliva, "Didn't we just beat him into a bloody pulp? How is he even standing?" The dark markings spread over Naruto's body, covering more and more of his body, until the markings fused together and only a black silhouette was standing in Naruto's place. Orochimaru looked pleasantly surprised, "The cursed seal second level. My oh my, you are a hungry one, aren't you, Naruto."

The markings started fading away. Naruto's golden hair had turned into pitch black and slightly longer. His eyes turned pitch black, only in one eye there was a blood red iris with a slit in it shinning from the black and in the other eye a dark purple iris was shinning from the black eye. Naruto's skin had turned into ash gray and two thick black lines traveled from his eyes down his cheeks. His fingernails had become long and sharp, like a beasts and his entire body was very lean body packed with muscle.

All of the sound four immediately put up their guard and activated their own cursed seals. But before they could do anything Naruto disappeared and appeared in front of Jirobo in a second. He raised his arms and blew him away, sending him flying out of the lake and into the trees. The he turned Ukon and disappeared again and appeared behind him and punched him so fast he could barely see. To his luck Sakon blocked the attack with his arm. Naruto's fist started overpowering Sakon's and pushed it back. Suddenly Naruto grabbed Sakon's fist and pulled him towards himself, tearing him away from the main body. Then Naruto did a powerful kick at Sakon's gut sending him flying high up into the air.

Just as Ukon turned around Naruto spun around and kick Ukon sending him flying like Jirobo. Kidomaru had already jumped back and was aiming at Naruto with his bow. When Naruto turned his back to him he shot an arrow at Naruot's neck. Naruto turned around and with one move slashed the arrow to pieces. He raised his fist and smashed it into the water. A torrent of water exploded and rose into the air, obscuring the view.

Before the water settled down Kidomaru saw a shadow above, as he glanced up he saw that it was Naruto, just at the same time Naruto did an axe kick and sent Kidomaru crashing into the bottom of the lake. Naruto slowly turned around dodged around Tayuya's summoned pets, before he charged at her at a speed she could barely react to.

Naruto passed her and kept on running straight towards Orochimaru, after a second blood shot out from three wounds on Tayuya's body, "When?" Naruto appeared before Orochimaru and unleashed a flurry of punches. Orochimaru met the punches head on with his own punches, as fast as Naruto was, his speed wasn't above Orochimaru's so he could easily keep up with Naruto. After a few punches Orochimaru jumped back and glanced at his arms, all broken, bones sticking out of them, "Oh my, even if I can match his speed I can't match his power? Well I guess this isn't anything to be surprised about."

Naruto appeared before him and punched him in the gut with his fingers extended, tearing a hole in Orochimaru's stomach. In response Orochimaru chuckled and while smiling opened his mouth. Another Orochimaru emerged from his mouth, completely fine. Naruto didn't stop, he simply threw the body to the side and with a spin kicked Orochimaru while he was still in the air, all in two seconds.

Orochimaru flipped in the air and landed on the ground, he looked down and saw that his left arm was broken again, "Taking on his attacks is bad for my health." He said with a small smile. Naruto appeared before him again and unleashed a flurry of punches. Orochimaru did his best to dodge every single one of them with snake-like movements.

Naruto raised his leg and kicked the water, sending it flying everywhere, obscuring his view. As the water settled down Orochimaru looked behind him and saw Naruto was gathering chakra in his hand. A small black ball formed at the palm of his hand. Naruto clenched his fist with the ball and with the same fist punched the air. A second after the punched a massive blast of black chakra flew out of Naruto's fist, towards Orochimaru. Evaporating the waters around him and traveling out of the lake and into the forest. After the attack hit the trees a massive explosion occurred there, creating a massive crater.

After the blast settled down, it showed Orochimaru standing there, half of his body missing. He opened his mouth again and emerged from it. He fell on the water in a crouch, "I guess its about time." Naruto charged at Orochimaru again and just as he was about to reach him Orochimaru turned around with a smile, "Time to come back, Uzumaki Naruto." The markings started fading and with one massive wave of chakra the old Naruto returned and fell on the water, unconscious.

Orochimaru turned to Kabuto with a chuckle, "Take care of it. I entrust Naruto to you. Deliver him to our base." Kabuto sighed as he readjusted his glasses, "As you wish." Kabuto said with a bead of sweat dropping down the side of his face, " _Just what kind of monster is he?_ " Kabuto asked nobody in particular. Then with a sigh got to work.

Chapter END

 **This is all I have for now, folks. Hope you enjoyed. I really think this time it was a lot better than the original, but its just me. Anyway, those who read my original work must have noticed that I have changed a few things.**

 **In my original work I wrote my fight scenes very detailed but I thought that made it hard for people to actually imagine it so this time I wrote them less detailed and left more place for imagination. I was very curious if it was better like this or it was better with more details. Maybe even this style of writing the fights is bad and I should change it. So, drop a review and let me know about it.**

 **I don't really have anything else to say. If you think there are places where I should improve, please don't hesitate and point them out. I always try to make my work better and it would help me out, because right now I don't know if my writing is good enough or not, and if not, then what I should change.**

 **This was my also first attempt at tragedy and drama stuff. I don't think it turned out perfect, but atleast while i was reading it, i think that it wasn't very bad for a first attempt. I also know what i have to do to improve it in the future. But just in case, if you feel like something is missing from those parts, please tell me, maybe i missed it and it would be helpful to know in the future.**

 **Anyway, this is all for this time. Drop a review with your opinion on it. Have a wonderful day.**


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